I can’t seem to let go of Bob Kearns

Your comments under the blog entry, Heroes and Value Clarification, shook my limited thinking. When I read the first comment — Jack’s — I would have wanted Bob Kearns to feel just like Jack. I would have loved him to lead the happy integrated life that Jack does. I, too, would like to.

In my life, when I fought things, it was my ego at work. I was piqued. And that’s what my fighting was about — how I was being treated. I was always ready for a fight, if you know what I mean.

According to the movie, Flash of Genius, which is all I have to go by, it wasn’t Bob Kearns’ ego that was at stake. Bob Kearns was more like the people who would stand in front of a tree to prevent its being cut down. There was something he believed in. There was something that he cared about. There was something important to him. Of course, he was standing in front of a tree that had already been cut down. As I see it, he was definitely not defending his ego.

Bob Kearns died before the movie came out. I would have liked him to know that he was enough of a hero to have had a movie made about him. And I would have liked to write to him.

There is a fine line between dedicated and obsessive. It depends on who is looking. Clearly, Bob Kearns was dedicated. He was also clearly obsessive. I wonder if we can be dedicated without being obsessive. I would guess that the more the odds are against us, the more dedicated we have to be and listen solely to the beat of our own drums. Even if we are the only one, we have to do it.

Galileo was laughed at for saying the Earth is round.

Einstein was a slow-learner. Who would have bet on him? And even when his theory of relativity was accepted (who was the slow learner?) he didn’t remember to tie his shoes.

Van Gogh was dedicated and obsessive.

Thomas Edison was dedicated. I imagine there were those who dismissed him as being obsessive.

What about Walt Disney? He had his dream, and he wasn’t believed in, except for an aunt who mortgaged her house for him. Even after he was successful and well-known and he wanted to make a theme park, few honored his dream.

I think that tomorrow I will answer the value clarification questions I gave to the best of my ability. Before I do, I want to be sure you all know I value your responses very much, and my responses are just my responses and in no way represent the Management!

Posted by Gloria on December 15th, 2009 under these topics
Personal Development, Education, Godwriting Journal

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7 Replies

Reply from Jochen on December 15, 2009

Hard-won things – freedom, great art, equal rights – are the most valuable. After many centuries of (inevitable) belief in this myth, it’s only natural we take it for granted. And we will not shake it off just like that. But we are being shown alternatives, and we will consider them more until great art will come out of nothing but joy. Perhaps life will be art and w o r k s of art a thing of the past.

Reply from Gloria on December 15, 2009

Ah, Jochen.

Reply from Jack van Raders on December 17, 2009

What does it matter if they were dedicated, obsesive or whatever. No candles to read by thanks Tom, Hey I love your paintings Vince the give me great Joy, etc, etc. Slow learner or bored learner? Judgement from others I was bored out of my mind at school Till I entered Nautical colledge and did a 3 year course in 18 month,Why? I liked it and was not bored. what others do or not do is none of my business, Their choise and their choise only. I love you All Jack

Reply from Chuck Gebhardt on December 17, 2009

I guess I have to respectfully disagree with you Gloria. From the world’s way of thinking, though, I would have to agree that Bob Kearns was a hero. He stood on the principle of the matter and he stood up for the rights of the little guy vs. the huge corporation. But from the messages of Heavenletters, I’m not so sure. Are we not being instructed that our proper concern is our own actions? When we file lawsuits and struggle and try to change the decisions of others are we not trying to control? Is this not the action of the ego that we are being asked to let go of? Isn’t the key issue here that the corporation that stole Bob’s design violated his expectations about what they should have done?

Reply from Gloria on December 17, 2009

Beloved Chuck, you can disagree with me any day of the week!

I am with you about law suits when it comes to things like the person who burnt herself on the hot water at McDonald’s and other such, to my mind, frivolous things.

Somehow I can’t believe that God says we’re to take a significant robbery as if it were all okay. In one sense, I think that if Bob Kearns had not fought, then he might have been supporting the stealing.

If someone stole bread, I would give it to them.

However, whatever I would do in a case where I don’t feel benevolent about it, I just hope I wouldn’t be coming from anger which is ego.

I think that if a major corporation stole my invention, it would be my business.

I am sure outnumbered on this one!

Loving you,

Gloria

Reply from emilia on December 18, 2009

We are always ready to play our part in this illusive game. Great actors, great characters, great drama or better melodrama ( as God says ). It goes on and on around what seems to be a plot, but it is always the same scene, untill…

Reply from Chuck Gebhardt on December 18, 2009

Obviously, there are more ways than one to look at this scenario of a corporation “stealing” an individual’s ideas.

I will borrow a metaphor from Heavenletters and describe some of these possibilities as steps on a ladder, where higher steps are from a higher vantage point of awareness. Of course, this is not about right or wrong, it’s about the perspective from which we view things.

A very low level would be to react with anger and a wish to retaliate. I think we would all agree that actions motivated by anger arise from ego and a selfish view of things.

A somewhat higher perspective might be the level of the socially accepted legal definition of our individual rights as defined in our laws. A patented device or intellectual property carries with it the right to sue for damages if someone infringes the patent. It is hard to argue that it is wrong to seek legal redress when your rights are violated, but this is in no way heroic.

A higher level may be to view the whole issue from an ethical point of view that transcends the legal questions. We can view this as one example where large corporations may act in ways that we may view as unethical and they do so because it is profitable and convenient. These actions may be within the gray areas of legality or there may be no effective legal way for the “victims” to stop them. You could argue that Bob’s struggles were heroic in the way you might see as heroic the picketers outside an abortion clinic standing for hours in the freezing cold or the boaters that try to block whaling vessels from leaving port while defying the guns of coast guard vessels. I say these actions may be on a higher rung, but I’m not so sure they actually are. I see them as motivated by the conviction that the individual is sacrificing himself for the perceived good of “victims” that can’t defend themselves. A number of Heavenletters and Heaven Sutras describe this kind of sacrifice as misguided and provide the viewpoint that there are no true victims in life.

I am arguing here that there are even higher rungs to view this issue from. One broader perspective is that we are really all one. From this perspective, the corporation is part of oneness in conflict with individuals who are other parts of this oneness. Perhaps the corporation’s actions are regrettable, but Bob’s attempts to redress the “injustice” just extend the conflict and have the unfortunate side effect of disrupting his own family’s equanimity. This perspective might include the awareness that struggling over money is, in effect, struggling over one of the manifestations of God’s love and energy. God’s love is freely available to all of us at all times and requires only our acceptance, not our struggle. We do not need the court system to help us obtain it.

To me, there is no “wrong” with Bob’s actions described here, but his actions do define his level of consciousness and awareness. I guess where we place these actions on this imagined ladder of awareness is a matter of opinion. One could say that the higher levels in this imagined schema are hopelessly idealistic or impractical. One might also argue with the particulars of my way of constructing this ladder. For me, this is definitely a work in progress.

Love and best wishes to you, Gloria…..Chuck

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