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Thursday, 1 January 2009

Lee Iacocca on: 'Where Have All The Leaders Gone?'

I had to post this! Lee Iacocca has released a new book called: 'Where Have All the Leaders Gone?' The following is his commentary describing his motivation for writing it. As he mentions, it is a Call to Action. He is writing to every American and I believe many more.
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'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's  happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder!
We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.
 
But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay  the course.' Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned, 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!' 

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in  Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you? 

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.) Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down. On September 11, 2001, we needed a  strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.
 
We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. 

Our borders are like sieves. 
The middle class is being squeezed every which way. 
These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators?
Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the  point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. 

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time. Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. 

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here.  I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope -
I believe in America. In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of  America 's greatest moments. I've also xperienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War  II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a "Call to Action" for people who, like me, believe in America'. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It's our country, folks, and it's our future. Our future is at stake!!'
Posted by Kabbalite at 19:21
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???????????????? What's going on ???????????????

Hi, I’ve been busy adding links and I am nowhere near finished putting them up or organizing them to any satisfaction. Actually, there is just one link that will answer all your questions. I decided it is better to be a bit random then to not attempt to highlight important links. There are so many things to address...

Particularly, a lot of people are expressing a feeling of compressed time, or better stated: no time/money/energy/no zest for life. It begs the question, 'What is the point of my life?'

Have you noticed that things that used to take a certain amount of ‘time,’ seem to be take longer now? Is it because we are older and slower? Is it an illusion that we continue to do the same tasks and yet we must get up earlier to accomplish said tasks, and still we are rushing to complete our duties in order to have ‘time’ to meet the next agenda or 3, before dinner?

Guess what? In spirituality, there is no time or space! We are here, living in this world, lacking the feeling of life/nature/light/the Creator, supposedly living, but actualizing a total and complete bluff.

We are playing our given roles, in the puppet master’s play of all plays. He has set up each and every little detail - all of it - just for us... We are so fortunate that all our frustrations, our stresses, and our obstacles are all gifts from Him. What? Gifts, you say? Yes, gifts. He presents us with the perfect challenge that will lead us exactly and precisely, to Him. This whole world was made in this exact and, opposite way, so that we may have the opportunity to return to complete adhesion with Him. Our work must be done in a physical body, in this world, step by step by step.

Have you noticed that our youth is moving towards a completely apathetic state? They don't seem happy about being here at all... Basically they do not want our world as it is. They do not want power, knowledge, money... They see it as the illision that it is - for real!

So, now what ??

The material that is currently posted in ‘Kabbalite,’ is all drawn from the authentic text’s found posted on the B’nei Baruch’s official websites and blogs. Presented here is a straight ahead formula that is scientifically proven to be a roadmap to life! I am interested in your feedback, so please do. These posts read like a bona fide manuscript, from sources that are deep reaching.

One thing I would like to stress is that Kabbalah is NOT a religion. What is Kabbalah?

our way out,
our way back,
our way forward,
our way.

It is the Wisdom that returns us to Him, and to Life.

May each of you reach the light of the Creator.

Love Lisa




THE TREE OF LIFE

(from the book of ARI "The Tree Of Life" , part I)

Behold, that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures were created, The upper simple light had filled the whole existence. And there was no vacancy, such as an empty atmosphere, a hollow, or a pit, But all was filled with simple, boundless light. And there was no such part as head, or tail, But everything was simple, smooth light, balanced evenly and equally, And it was called the Endless Light. And when upon His simple will, came the desire to create the world and emanate the emanations, To bring to light the perfection of His deeds, His names, His appellations, Which was the cause of the creation of the worlds, He then restricted Himself, in the middle, Precisely in the center, He restricted the light. And the light drew far off to the sides around that middle point. And there remained an empty space, a vacuum Circling the middle point. And the restriction had been uniform Around the empty point, So that the space Was evenly circled around it. There, after the restriction, Having formed a vacuum and a space Precisely in the middle of the endless light, A place was formed, Where the emanated and the created might reside. Then from Endless Light a single line hung down, Lowered down into that space. And through that line, He emanated, formed, Created all the worlds. Before these four worlds came to be There was one infinite, one name, in wondrous, hidden unity, That even for the closest of the angles There is no attainment in the endless, As there is no mind that can perceive it, For He has no place, no boundary, no name. Follow to > The Commentary of The Tree of Life

Correlation of Kabbalah and Music

Music and Kabbalah... What is the connection between them? Everyone has a conception of what music is, but not everyone, by far, knows what Kabbalah is.

The essence of Kabbalah is shrouded in secrecy, but interest in Kabbalah has always existed. According to legends, one who knows Kabbalah and masters its' secrets can govern our world and the mysterious spiritual worlds that influence our world, revealing its past, present and future.

Kabbalah is the science of the structure of the universe, the developmental laws of spiritual worlds and our world, and of the purpose of man. Kabbalah is a science of the impact of human desires on the surrounding world. All Kabbalistic books are written in the language of feelings and desires. This is a special, strictly scientific language that employs graphs, formulas and diagrams. It explains how to alter our own desires in order to purposefully influence the entire world. Through these graphs and schemes, Kabbalah talks of mans' feelings, his soul, and music. Music also talks to man in a language of feelings and emotions; therefore it is close to Kabbalah.

What is music? It is an emotion, captured in its evolvement. Only music can deliver the process of transforming feelings through time. That is why the music of Kabbalah provides those who do not yet perceive the spiritual world with a certain analogy of the impression of spirituality that is felt by the Kabbalist.

The more evolved mans’ feelings are, the more he will delight in what is heard. A sensitive man opens an entire world for himself in music, undergoes different emotional states from bliss to tragedy. And the more man develops his feelings, the more intricately he will sense that which the music transmits. In much the same way, one who studies Kabbalah cultivates in himself appropriate inner instruments for comprehending spirituality, through which he then begins to perceive spiritual information. As a musician looks into notes and hears music through his inner feelings, a Kabbalist, while reading Kabbalistic texts, senses the spiritual world within him.

Man's very first spiritual sensation when spirituality is revealed to him is thankfulness to the Creator. Man begins to sense this higher power and sees how it brought him out of a dead end existence into an infinite, flawless world of absolute awareness and perfection. It is this sensation that Rav Baruch Ashlag transmitted through his music for the words of the psalm:

"I thank you for saving my soul from death My eyes from tears My feet from entering hell."

The great Kabbalists wrote all the books of the Torah. They tell of the secrets of the universe, but we are also privileged to the melodies, created by the great Kabbalists Yehuda Ashlag and his son Baruch Ashlag. Through the language of feelings, their melodies express spiritual sensations and information. Rav Yehuda Ashlag wrote the commentary on the book of “Zohar” and the primary textbook of Kabbalah “Talmud of Ten Sefirot”. He attained all of the secrets of the universe and implanted them in his melodies.

The existing location of the soul in the spiritual world is referred to as its root. The roots of souls differ. Souls descend into our world and incarnate in bodies. As the roots of souls differ, the objectives that each soul must complete in our world differ as well. That is why each body is nothing more than a mechanism for completing the soul’s plan of development. Man begins to feel drawn to spirituality, a striving to his spiritual root, desires to attain it right now, to be able to sense all the worlds today, while still living in this world. Kabbalistic music reveals and develops man’s spiritual potential. Kabbalistic melodies are not subjected to the typical musical analysis. From the point of view of classical music, these melodies may appear banal in their structure and musical language. But those persons with an inclination for the ascension of their souls in this lifetime, who wish to attain the Upper World and the entire universe, sense in this music something beckoning them into the unexplored.

We do not know how our musical comprehension is structured. Why do we feel the major chords in a different emotional and sensible tone than the minor ones? Why do we sense the major as something brighter, more open, and happier than the minor? Many musicians with perfect musical hearing see colors in notes, chords, and tones. No one knows how this occurs and why such associations of color, sound, taste, and sensations appear within us. No one knows the structure of our receptors, which perceive absolutely immaterial information. However, Kabbalists understand how these devices work within man, because they know the structure of his soul. They can instill spiritual information into musical sounds. That is why Kabbalistic music is a means of infusing the inner world of man with information of all that surrounds him.

What the music of our world contains is connected to the personal, earthly sensations and emotions of the composers. Composers have always aspired to reflect the predicaments of creation in music, yet these attempts had never gone beyond a mere surmise or personal feeling. Only melodies written by Kabbalists actually enable us to enter into sensations of eternity, sensations of soul’s movement, pushing us to an understanding of our essence as a part of one eternal universe.

Kabbalistic music is written by great Kabbalists as an expression of their spiritual sensations. It is inherently located at a high spiritual level. A spiritual sensation can not be forgotten. That, which was played and felt once, remains and at any moment can be repeated. This feeling can later be manipulated, creating most refined shades of said emotion. In every melody there is a different feeling corresponding to each particular spiritual state. Due to the elevated level of its composer, each melody speaks of the ethereal as it elevates and escorts one across the spiritual world. This music delivers the listener to eternity and perfection.