Much of our actions in life are choices that boil down to the basic choice of exercising intelligence or stupidity.  The late spiritual master, OSHO, offered some interesting insight into what intelligence really is.  This article is an exposition of his thoughts on the matter, along with my own reflections.  This is a wake up call.  Is it your time to hear it?

We tend to think of intelligence as something having to do with the ability to remember things, to work with numbers, to perceive the workings of things.  Our formal education--for most of us--was based pretty much on our ability to memorize facts, dates, and ideas that were given to us to memorize.  But think about it: Some people have what we call photographic memories.  They see something and then they know it and keep it with them for ready access.  Is this intelligence, really?

Osho defined intelligence as "the capacity to live life according to your own nature."  I would add two factors to that definintion.  I believe that it is not just capacity, because millions have capacities that are largely unused.  If you're not going to use that capacity, it is wasted.  So I would expand the definition of intelligence to say that it is the capacity, willingness and dedication to live your own life acccording to your own nature.

Exercising this brand of intelligence often means rejecting how society would like you to act because it means being true to yourself.  Society would prefer that you live your life according to what it wants, what it sees as most supporting of it.  When you are a child, you are raised to please your parents and teachers.  You are raised to believe that it is much more important for you to feel like you fit in to society than it is to approach life in your own way, in ways that feel right and in flow to you.

So society and many of its institutions--most notably government and religion---like to indoctrinate people into a way of life in which we don't trust our own selves.  We are taught that we must believe certain things in order to be accepted.  This precludes trusting our own selves.

So much of what we learned as young people was not so much an education but an indoctrination.  We were told what to believe and we did at least pretend to believe it if we wanted to fit in.  We were told how we should define God, what was right, what was wrong, what we should be ashamed of, what we should avoid.  Our pretend beliefs, or ones that simply obliterated our earlier, more authentic beliefs, have contributed in a major way to our collective schizophrenia and incongruency: we say we believe in something, but we often act in ways or think in ways that do not fit with the belief.

But true intelligence is just flowing with one's nature, and being willing to be with that nature, to exercise it.  It takes trust of self, and it takes courage to express from your true self rather than from the insecure being who prioritizes their acceptance by society or their need for false power above the commitment to truth and authenticity.

Please connect with your internal pause button, and ponder this. 

By contrast, we can ask, "What is stupidity?"   While of course there are some people that are not as blessed in the brains department as others, stupidity is largely condtioned.  It has to do with blindly following others, imitating them, parroting their beliefs, obeying others without thought or self-consultation.  And, using this definition, the world is still full of people who choose to act stupid.   Stupid is about living as if other people's views are much more important than your own.  Stupid is telling friends that you agree with them when you really do not, but you don't want to risk their rejection.  Stupid is sticking with a religion because you fear how others might judge you if you didn't show up for the weekend services.  It distills to an unwillingness to take responsibility for one's own beliefs.  Will you wake up to this?

Any fool can  parrot somebody else's ideas and beliefs, not really thinking whether they are worth believing or whether holding on to such beliefs is worth doing.  And the bulk of the world's population  has taken the coward's route in accepting beliefs.   We can understand how children's minds are poisoned by false indoctrination.  Adults just generally seem to hold onto the false set of beliefs they integrated as children.  Rather than question beliefs, especially as adults, we look for that which is expedient, that which will not rock the boat too much, that which will not be too much work or promise too much rejection of ourselves.  And when we have unproductive beliefs, the Universe has  way of pointing this out to us, but we often will distract ourselves from seeing the lesson because we tell ourselves that truly seeing the lesson would be more painful than pretending not to see it at all.

We make the choice for purposeful blindness because we don't really want to see the truth.  We distract ourselves with food, sex, manipulating others, mindless television and novels, anything to keep from seeing the lessons that life wants to to teach us.  This is what true stupidity is.

We wonder how to find the intelligence that is true, the one brand of it that will let us truly be who we are.  If we look for this intelligence in the head, in the brain, we don't find it there.   Like the brain, the heart has neurons, along with electrical power much greater than that of the brain.  It helps, I believe, to identify ourselves as some combination of heart and soul, to subscribe to the idea that the heart has will and it has wisdom.

This is where true intelligence is found, and it is best integrated via the same ways we have in the past seemed to integrate the lies that the world has told us: repetition.  As we discover our deepest truths, it serves us to find ways to repeat them to ourselves, or to write them down and tape them to the refrigerator where we will see them frequently.  We learned to call truths things that were not at all true.  How to we move beyond that false thinking?
By creating clarity about our genuine truths--trusting the heart to guide us in this---and then finding ways to repeat the idea as a washing and infusing of or consciousness.  Please play with these ideas.  I believe they include key ideas to help people truly wake up.

Much of our actions in life are choices that boil down to the basic choice of exercising intelligence or stupidity.  The late spiritual master, OSHO, offered some interesting insight into what intelligence really is.  This article is an exposition of his thoughts on the matter, along with my own reflections.  This is a wake up call.  Is it your time to hear it?

We tend to think of intelligence as something having to do with the ability to remember things, to work with numbers, to perceive the workings of things.  Our formal education--for most of us--was based pretty much on our ability to memorize facts, dates, and ideas that were given to us to memorize.  But think about it: Some people have what we call photographic memories.  They see something and then they know it and keep it with them for ready access.  Is this intelligence, really?

Osho defined intelligence as "the capacity to live life according to your own nature."  I would add two factors to that definintion.  I believe that it is not just capacity, because millions have capacities that are largely unused.  If you're not going to use that capacity, it is wasted.  So I would expand the definition of intelligence to say that it is the capacity, willingness and dedication to live your own life acccording to your own nature.

Exercising this brand of intelligence often means rejecting how society would like you to act because it means being true to yourself.  Society would prefer that you live your life according to what it wants, what it sees as most supporting of it.  When you are a child, you are raised to please your parents and teachers.  You are raised to believe that it is much more important for you to feel like you fit in to society than it is to approach life in your own way, in ways that feel right and in flow to you.

So much of what we learned as young people was not so much an education but an indoctrination.  We were told what to believe and we did believe it if we wanted to fit in.  We were told how we should define God, what was right, what was wrong, what we should be ashamed of, what we should avoid.

But true intelligence is just flowing with one's nature, and being willing to be with that nature, to exercise it.  It takes trust of self, and it takes courage to express from your true self rather than from the insecure being who prioritizes their acceptance by society or their need for false power above the commitment to truth and authenticity.

Please connect with your internal pause button, and ponder this. 

By contrast, we can ask, "What is stupidity?"   While of course there are some people that are not as blessed in the brains department as others, stupidity is largely condtioned.  It has to do with blindly following others, imitating them, parroting their beliefs, obeying others without thought or self-consultation.  And, using this definition, the world is still full of people who choose to act stupid.   Stupid is about living as if other people's views are much more important than your own.  Stupid is telling friends that you agree with them when you really do not, but you don't want to risk their rejection.  Stupid is sticking with a religion because you fear how others might judge you if you didn't show up for the weekend services.  It distills to an unwillingness to take responsibility for one's own beliefs.  Will you wake up to this?

We wonder how to find the intelligence that is true, the one brand of it that will let us truly be who we are.  If we look for this intelligence in the head, in the brain, we don't find it there.   Like the brain, the heart has neurons, along with electrical power much greater than that of the brain.  It helps, I believe, to identify ourselves as some combination of heart and soul, to subscribe to the idea that the heart has will and it has wisdom.

This is where true intelligence is found, and it is best integrated via the same ways we have in the past seemed to integrate the lies that the world has told us: repetition.  As we discover our deepest truths, it serves us to find ways to repeat them to ourselves, or to write them down and tape them to the refrigerator where we will see them frequently.  We learned to call truths things that were not at all true.  How to we move beyond that false thinking?
By creating clarity about our genuine truths--trusting the heart to guide us in this---and then finding ways to repeat the idea as a washing and infusing of or consciousness.  Please play with these ideas.  I believe they include key ideas to help people truly wake up.

The question has come up so many times in the last year or so.  Given the strange and chaotic state of the world, people often write or speak of their frustration in not knowing what they can DO about the problems of the world.   What can YOU do about the mess the world is in?  An essay received via email today provoked the following response from me.  Here is that response.

Dear Suzy,

Good points are made in the essay you forwarded, yet the suggested responses to these realities fall short.  It is suggested there that we ostracize the bad guys, stand up and make a stink with our legislators, find somebody else to yell at or otherwise find ways to vent our anger at the nebulous system.  

These responses have been shown over and over again to be counter-productive.

We are in the middle of a revolution.  It is a revolution of consciousness.  It will not be won by taking up arms, by screaming in the streets or by any letter writing campaign.  The revolution will be won based upon what we are being, not just what we are doing.

As we choose to be the loving beings that we are at depth, the collective consciousness will suffocate egoic ignorance.

There are many more people in this world who are either innocent or well-intentioned than there are those who would like to control the world and usurp its resources.  We are being called to respond to the challenges of life with love, with a sense of unity, and with compassion.  Loving actions are a natural mirror for what is inside of oneself that one is willing to see and with which one is willing to identify.  (OK, read that last line again; it does make sense.)  The ultimate “key to the kingdom” is to identify with the heart and choose more and more consistently to reflect that knowledge in your actions.

This requires awareness, trust and courage.  Awareness is just the willingness to see what is in front of you.  Many today would rather hide, pretending that they do not see.  They hide behind alcohol, food, drugs, stupid television, sexual excess, or anything that will divert their attention from reality.  Trust and courage become more possible as one moves beyond avoidance, powerlessness and fear.  

We have been conditioned to be fearful and to have a sense of powerlessness.  This is how the dark or corrupt forces want us to be.  We are being called by a higher power to wake up.

Our system of government in the United States is broken and is beyond reform.   It will be replaced as a natural outgrowth of the revolution of consciousness.  No blood.  No marching in the streets required.

Still, the mind wants to know: what can we DO now?   What we do as individuals makes an impact on the collective.  So helping others to wake up is important.  We can wake up to the fact that most of our religions---ALL of the major ones---are spiritually draining of the collective called humanity.  It is time for us to dump these religions.  Any worthy religion unites and empowers.  The major religions of today do exactly the opposite: they weaken and divide.  So key number one in responding to the call of the day: Dump divisive religion now.  Believing in a very separate-from-you, schizophrenic god who damns and tortures those who break "His" rules is spiritually life-draining. 

Key number two is to commit to living a more conscious, loving and aware life.  Be willing to see what is in front of you and then more and more consistently respond to everything with love.

Key three: drop judgment.  If we are all indeed One, then judgment of another is judgment of Self, and hence self-abusive.   Exercise discernment and prudence about where and to whom you give your energy, but ix-nay on the udgment-jay.

Key four: Bless the so-called “bad guys.”   The corrupt who torture, enslave, poison and bankrupt us are just ignorant.  Send them your love, not your resentment or anger.  It is your love and your love alone that will win the revolution of consciousness.  And the result will be an era of harmony, one beginning sooner than many think.  

Key five:  See everyone and everything you experience as your teacher.  Their lesson is to love.   The most challenging of people and experiences are opportunities to choose a loving response.  As we more and more consistently do this, we raise our own---and the collective—-vibration; we raise our consciousness.

I explore this consciousness revolution in more detail in my new book, The Wake Up Book, that will be available starting this Friday at www.YourPauseButton.com  Without presenting anything dogmatically, the book guides  readers to discover their own truth by consulting the will of their hearts.  

Thanks for all the great work you do, Suzy.  You, too, are a “wake up artist.”
-
All Love,

Carlo Ami

P.S.  For a sneak preview of the book, please go to

http://www.yourpausebutton.com/books/the-wake-up-book/excerpt

Carlo Ami at Nighttime Lava Flow into the Ocean in Hawaii

Here you will find a basic media kit that will answer many of your questions.  Carlo enjoys doing internet and standard radio interviews as well as group Pause Session Presentations. He lives in San Diego, California.

What makes Carlo Ami an interesting interview for radio, television or print media?

He brings a fresh perspective during these challenging times to the discussion of stress relief.

He has a unique, direct and calm approach to helping people with the challenges of life from the spiritual perspective.   As the challenges of depression and anxiety have reached new levels of challenge, he suggests going within oneself for solutions rather than on relying on external sources that often happen to be very counter-productive.  He teaches people how to trust their inner wisdom and their capacities for calm, happiness and love.  Over the last 11 years, he has developed the Pause Button System to help people gain further understanding and appreciation of their inner resources.  He is the author of two books, "All That Matters" and "The Wake Up Book".  He has also voiced, composed and produced the audio CD, "Quick Inner Retreats to Calm" which also makes use of the Pause Session method.

What is a Pause Session?

Pause sessions take a single belief statement or series of related beliefs and asks the reader to pause after each line to ponder the idea from the level of the heart.  In our information-overloaded society, it is important to pause and contemplate important ideas---particularly those that have to do with beliefs---in order to clarify what yours are.  Rather than present the beliefs in his books as truth or "dogma", Carlo encourages his readers to edit the lines in his Pause Sessions so that they fit the reader.  It may be a word or two changed in any given session statement, or it may be the entire basic idea that is changed.  The key to ensuring that the system benefits the reader is their willingness to be aware of how their life WILL teach them whether the belief is a spiritually, practically or emotionally effective in enhancing their life.

What are some of the more important points that he makes in his books and CD?

Each reader is encouraged to develop their own beliefs about the following, not simply take on those of the author.

*   You are your own best teacher, especially when learning about who you are and what is important to you

* The best way of finding stress relief is through simple practices you can do on your own

*   The only hells are those we create through unproductive action and thought

*   We are all connected with each other in a way that the mind cannot understand.

Some things were meant to be mysteries.

*  Most religions are spiritually counter-productive (This can be side-stepped for your group, if you wish!

Just know that there is direct content of this type in the books.)

*  Evolving spiritually requires discipline, risk and courage

*  Since we have been conditioned to live in ways that are not generally productive to our happiness and              contentment, it takes focus and repetition to integrate new ideas and ways of living that work better

What is the newest book?

Carlo's newest is "The Wake Up Book".

What does "Seventh Direction" mean?

From the preface of the book:

Among the beautiful spiritual traditions of many Native American tribes, seven directions are recognized.  In addition to the standard four are added Above

(Sky) and Below (Earth).  The Seventh

Direction is the most challenging

and rewarding of any that we

might take our

attention:

Within.

When you allow it, this book can be your framework to discover the depth of this wondrous and powerful direction.

More from the Preface:

“What am I here for?  What is the point of living?”

There are no other questions as important to answer.

Unless you have come very far on your spiritual path, if you read my reflections on these questions below, chances are strong that you will view it with the egoic mind that you may think defines you.

As you read this now, your egoic self may already be getting cranky, ready to reject what is written here, ready for a nap, some ice cream, a romance novel, some mindless television or another distraction .

Ego has no interest in exploring the spiritual path.  Ego thinks the present is to be avoided and rejected.

“More! More! More!”  This is the cry of the ego.  More money, more sex, more silly excuses for more silly ‘foods’, more people to tell me how wonderful I am, more people whom I can manipulate so that I can feel good about myself.

“Less! Less! Less!”  This is also the cry of the ego.  Less pain, less body weight,  a boss who is less mean, a lover who is less angry.

The egoic mind is rarely satisfied.  For it, there is never enough of what is wanted.  There is never so little of what is not wanted for it to be content.

So for our imaginary egoic selves, perverted little non-beings that the “are”, satisfaction is impossible.  Success is never complete enough for ego.

My suggestion for your consideration is that you are not your egoic mind.  You are heart/soul-centered.  If you choose to read the rest of this preface with that as at least a temporary supposition, then you may find powerful inspiration in these words.

I know at the deepest depth of my being I am a fully loving being.  I deeply sense that what I, and all of us, came into this life to do is to realize our loving  nature and to live it.

I am in the process of doing that.  Some have achieved it and become fully loving beings.    It is not about overcoming anything.  It is simply about realizing and practicing, more and more consistently, until each and every one of us realize that we are, in deed and in thought, completely loving beings.

Until one sees oneself as imprisoned, one cannot be released from our own prisons.  Until we can see ourselves creating a happy, loving, harmonious society, we will not see that society.

By more deeply recognizing the fullness of our loving nature, we also declare the truth that the worldly power brokers fight daily to keep us from knowing: that we are divine.  A united, loving divinity swallows any apparently negative forces.  The negative forces only have apparent power as the masses of humanity grant them via fear, doubt and a sense of unworthiness.

There is nothing more important for us to do in this life than to recognize the infinite nature of the power of Love to heal and unite.  As more and more of us fully recognize this, we heal our Selves and our world.

I have developed a simple system, as presented in “The Wake Up Book” and the “Quick Retreats” CD, to help people unfold their loving nature.  After over five decades on this planet, the vast majority of which I have resisted my loving nature, I am using this system to help myself evolve.

I believe with all my heart that anyone with an open mind and the courage to delve into their inner Self regularly, can accelerate the advent of our collective awakening by more rapidly unfolding their Loving Self.

This is the ambitious intent of The Wake Up Book.

This book will be helpful to you only if you are willing to be guided by your own heart.

What kind of radio voice does Carlo have?

Carlo has a deep and powerful voice.  People keep telling him that he ought to be a deejay.  For a sample, click here.

Jpeg images

Tell me about Carlo's personal presentations

Carlo offers presentations to groups of all sizes and age groups.  Most of the time spent with these presentations finds the audience in silent contemplation; several Pause Sessions are incorporated into each presentation.  Currently, Carlo works primarily in the Southern California and Arizona areas.  If you are outside of this area, please call to see if a presentation may be arranged for your group.  A calendar will be available in the Resources Section of this blog starting in July, 2010.

Presentation emphasis can be placed on the Pause Sessions or more specifically on simple practices one can do independently for stress relief.

What are the fees for such presentations?

At this time, Carlo does not charge any fees for his presentations as long as he is allowed to make his books and CDs available to the audience at the end of the presentation or after any following spiritual services.  For further information, please call or write.

How do I book Carlo Ami for an interview or presentation?

You may reach Carlo directly by phone at 760-990-1630 or write This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A separate set of questions will be developed for middle school students, high school students and adults.  Teachers, please help me do this.  Please send suggested copy for these discussion segments to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Will publish here the best ones.

Have someone on computer stop and start to screen out the commercials.  (Speeding them up just has you stopped from seeing content.)

End of first oil segment questions:

Talk about how it works to rush things when you are working with something dangerous like gas lines, stoves, electricity…

Do you feel a sense of responsibility for the safety of others when you are leading them in a project in which there are dangers?

When you have a health-threatening situation like Mike Williams did in your own life, is it OK to be afraid?

What else would it be important to do if you were faced with a situation like Mike Williams was when the disaster happened?

Courage?

Trust?

Focus?

Solution orientation?

Second oil segment end 27:45

What other parts of your experience of the world have you seen institutions  (including government, religion, banks, other corporations) put their financial considerations well above those of the well-being and safety of the planet and the people?

Include possible examples for discussion.

15:45  End of Gustavo segment

When you are doing something you really love to do, or thinking about something you really love to do or think about, how often do you think of fear when you are in the middle of it?

Discuss or contemplate the three areas shown as central to the working philosophy of Gustavo Dudamel: Character, discipline and teamwork.  How are these factors working in your life?

Dudamel sees focus and discipline around music to be something that can change society in a very positive way. Playing a musical instrument isn’t for everybody.  What do you love doing, just for the joy of doing it?

How do you think it would work for you to approach doing what you love to do with more focus and discipline?

What other kinds of things can people to do help create a more loving, connected world?

Could focusing on doing  anything you love doing that doesn’t harm anyone, any other creature or our planet be equally useful in positively changing your world?

Talk about how starting at a young age to find passion for service or expression can make a big difference in how smoothly the path of your life progresses?

What part does discipline play in the smoothness of that path?

*****************************************************************************************

Your feedback is appreciated. Write This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Carlo lives in Southern California between San Diego and L.A.