Comments for Sam Keen

Comment on Absence of G-D, Q&A by denny

denny — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:23:02 +0000

Dear Sam, I found you! It occurred to me, “Where’s Sam?” I decided to type in a probable web site and see if I found you. And here you are! This is after a workshop with you years ago at Creative Energy Options, in Springhouse, PA, a fondness for your mind and heart, The Passionate Life, Fire In The Belly, Sightings, and a therapy session where my profound guide said to me “There is a book, you don’t have to read it, or even get it but it holds a question that I think you’ve turned around” I immediately knew he was speaking of you, and the question: “Where are you going, and who’s going with you?” I had used your question in a small book I did on Designing and de-cluttering for I felt the question was perfect for any reader to use in deciding what was going with them in terms of possessions. (What Color Is Your Slipcover? Rodale) Can you imagine my shock that the question my counselor brought up was probably the only question I would have been capable of surfacing! It truly caused delight. But the question had been pinpointed because he felt I had turned it around. I was living from: Who’s going with me, and where am I going? It was stunning and right on and set me on a path of awareness that promises to heal a whole lot of my journey. I thought you’d enjoy the story. I thank you for the question, and laugh at my own innocence and using it in my book, and misusing it in my life.

It’s so good to find you, and to read you. It’s been like diving into a soft pool of bubbling truth. I hope you are well…and never stop. Denny Daikeler

Comment on Sacred and Profane Power by hazelnutmegan

hazelnutmegan — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:30:45 +0000

I have not been to a lecture. I just happened to come across one of your quotes on love and wanted to post it in my office, but I wanted to see what kind of person you were before I put it up, and I read this post.
I know it is a summary, so my interpretation may be flawed, but I disagree with Profane Power being individual while Sacred Power is communal. When someone is using profane power they do not see the individual, they see the masses of people they can either climb over, step on, or use to achieve their goals. However, those who receive Sacred Power are intensely focused on the individuals in their lives: they take time to listen, to empathize, and to truly help or lead. And regardless of sect – religion has always emphasized the relationship between God/ or The Sacred and the individual – that is what characterizes a Divine Moment.

Comment on The Evolution of the D/evil by Kent Q

Kent Q — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 04:56:59 +0000

The unfolding of evil can be extended to groups. If individuals with similar feeings of blocked entitlement can connect, they reinforce the beliefs. They can find support and compassion within the group that affirms their emerging meaning in life. The extreme position of such a group can stimulate the growth of opposing groups. We can have Fundamentalists and Aetheists feeding off each other. One Fundamental group tries to lock in this conflict with the belief that any kind of mediator or unifier is the devil in disguise!! We end up with ‘local realities” protected by a fortress mentality. THe growth of the global web can support these groups but it is more powerful in exposing the pathetic paranoia and poverty of these fortresses in the age of enlightenment.

Comment on Sacred and Profane Power by John Shibley

John Shibley — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:39:29 +0000

Wonderful bi-polarities and truly instructive. I teach a course called “Nonviolence and Communication Behavior”, so I was and am intrigued with a number of thoughts in Faces of the Enemy. But I was frustrated in being deprived of documentation in certain sections of the book. For instance (and especially), you quote Khomeni citing the Koran and its instruction to rid the unholy which is also for their own good. I don’t have the book in hand, but I believe it’s around page 80 or so. Since I could not find reference to it in either your notes or your selected bibliography, I felt short-changed. Some years ago, I attended a Dialogue/Compassion conference in Michigan at which you gave a stirring lecture. But I failed to address any of my concerns. So could you cite the Khomeni/Koran source and indicate if the ’91 ‘Faces’ has been updated??
Thank you, Sam.
John Shibley

Comment on The Evolution of the D/evil by Noreen Heath

Noreen Heath — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:58:25 +0000

This is the best and most logical definition of D/evil I have ever come across. Thank you. Between personal unformed, chaotic ideas and resistence to those propounded by organized religion, it has been difficult to come to any rational or spiritual method to address the existence of that which I perceive to be not “of god”. Antithetical to love or justice. I have long failed to believe in Satan, father of lies, etc. and yet, do not deny the proliferation of injustice, dehumanization and economic inequity that exists.
Your book has given me a feast for thought and possibly guidance I have been seeking for some time now. Thank you

Comment on Sacred and Profane Power by rosemary

rosemary — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:32:27 +0000

Have just listened to Sam Keen’s talk on the Ultimate Men’s Summit and am inspired by the ideas presented. Particularly the differences between profane and sacred power. I am encouraged to observe my actions or reactions more closely in light of Sam’s talk.
Thanks.

Comment on Build Your Ship of Death: For the Longest Journey Over Endless Seas by Ken Stofft

Ken Stofft — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:00:16 +0000

Thank you for opening a gateway to further insight around the issue of death for me, Sam.

“The most extreme example I know is in the yoga tradition that holds out the possibility that a person who has practiced meditation and learned wisdom and compassion will come to the end of life and die voluntarily. If you are constantly learning to let go and surrender to what is deepest, you are always learning to die. Such a person does not die from a disease; they surrender to death at the time (kairos) of readiness and ripeness.” Your words here ring true for me in my heart and intuition! I have often found myself beholding to my practice of zen, though I am not a regular practitioner of sitting in meditation. The life principle of being able to “let go” has given me much hope and practical guidance in discovering who I am and the mystery that surrounds even that discovering process.

“Clinging to orthodox Christianity, working obsessively to be worthy of fame, striving to make a name for myself, conforming to social niceties to be deserving of love, adopting rigorous health routines to protect me from age and decrepitude —all these are ways armoring myself against the terror of death.” Oh, how very true in my life. I was raised Catholic, knew I was a “gay” boy from a very early age, and began my trek of trying to hide from myself and the world. I used many escape mechanisms, and have over the years recognized many of them as illusory and not in my best interest, one of which was attempt to “fit in”, claim a career ladder, leave my “mark” on the world so that I would be remembered, and so on. What a futile way of living!

Now, I am in the third, and I suspect my last, chapter of this life, and I hold onto the hope that my “soul” indeed will move to yet another dimension of life itself. Ever changing. And, I find myself identifying more with the natural order of things…that cycle of birth, death, rebirth, re-death. hahaha And, I live in hope that I will keep my sense of humor and wonder about it all.

Thank you again!

Comment on Sacred and Profane Power by Barry Spector

Barry Spector — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:54:46 +0000

Great essay! I’d like to add another factor. As modern people, we have essentially lost the old, polytheistic skills of thinking metaphorically, of appreciating nuance, of thinking mythologically, of seeing beyond the literal to the symbolic. The three “Abrahamic faiths” (as well as Hindu extremists) best exemplify this diminished imagination. All fundamentalists, whether of religious or political ideologies, attempt to solve the problem of the great mystery by reducing everything to single answers. But they are not alone: all addicts, whether of substances or workaholism, are fundamentalists as well. And fundamentalism confronts its mirror opposite in consumer culture and the cult of celebrity. I will discuss these issues in Sonoma, CA on April 26th as part of the Praxis Peace Institute’s Pub series (www.praxispeace.org).

Barry Spector, author of “Madness at the Gates of the City: The Myth of American Innocence.”