Between the Cracks: A blog by Albert Clayton Gaulden

I was shocked to get a big tax bill from my accountant a week ago. Although I was never very good at math in grade school the amount owed seemed far beyond reason. When I asked why the amount owed was so much the accountant told me that since I was still working anything I had earned over $15,000 is being taxed at an exorbitant rate. I was furious with what the United States Government said I owed. A lot of us in this country lost a lot of our retirement in the last few years and most of us need to work to supplement our Social Security.

Make no mistake. We retirees (who have no choice but to continue to work; in my case, I would work anyway because I love what I do and I intend to do what I love as long as I love what I do) had no choice but to continue to work AND what the Government is doing amounts to double taxation. Most of us have been paying taxes for 50+ years and now we are taxed on money that has already been taxed. This is DOUBLE TAXATION. One of the hues and cries that caused the American Revolution was “No taxation without fair representation.”

So I ask, “Who is representing those of us who are being double taxed on wages earned, wages that we need to supplement the income we lost when the economics went topsy-turvy? If you ask most CPAs they will tell you this tax burden is unfair and someone in Congress needs to change the law so we can work and make what we can to survive.

I am Albert Clayton Gaulden and I approve of this message.

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First off I will remind all of you reading this Blog that I have been a recovering alcoholic for 30 years. The whole underpinning of recovery from this ‘allergy of the body coupled with an obsession of the mind’ disease is personal responsibility. You don’t have to be a drunk or a doper to want to blame others for your misfortunes. All of us are sick somewhere in our lives. All of us ought to look at ourselves–take our own inventory–to get free of whatever demons coaxed us into whatever miscues got into whatever hole we dug for ourselves. I have written a lot in the last two years how I have paid off all my credit cards and only buy what I can pay for. The value of my house fell like yours did. In recovery parlance I do the footwork and the results are none of my business–it is the concern of a Power greater than me or you.

No one is talking to the American public about personal responsibility. The talking heads want you to believe that the Government got us into this mess. Not. You got yourself into this mess. If we don’t become a culture that takes personal responsibility for our actions we are finished. Malfeasance and greed were a huge factor in banks and the Stock Market co-joining us in this fiasco. When I see tea-baggers rant and rail at Obama for his runaway deficit I wonder if anyone ever stopped to consider that he did not create why he had to step and avert a collapse–we did.

Where and when are we ever going to accept accountability for what we are facing. Haiti has a disaster and the world rushes to alleviate pain and suffering as well we should. When we are asked to pay off and do with less until we can afford to spend, we get our backs up and the blame game starts.

When is anyone going to look at us as a nation and ask what each of us can do to change? Change you and change the world you touch.

I am Albert Gaulden and I approve of this message.

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Oftentimes I feel as if God has forsaken me until I remember that, since He is within me, I must have abandoned myself. My despair is not of the Santa Claus variety of consciousness: I want what I want when I want it and if I don’t get it I will throw stones at and/or ignore the Almighty. More to the point is a prevailing notion of ‘what’s the use?’ The world will go up in smoke or it won’t. Ah, this smacks of attachment and I call my hand on it.

I met a man and his wife at breakfast the other morning and among other things he gave me a couple of books: A New Christianity for a New World by the former Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the Newark, New Jersey diocese, John Shelby Spong and The Heart of Christianity by biblical scholar Marcus J. Borg. Both books enrich the idea of Christ teachings as a way of life, and for me, he joins Buddha and Ramakrishna as one of the world’s great teachers. I recommend these books for those of you who need to feel as if two men were writing how you believe but feel alienated and marginalized in today’s religious culture.

What Vedanta teaches me is that all paths that lead to God are right paths. And the Vedas remind me that God is within me not somewhere in outer space. Buddha tweaks me every day to wake up and self-actualize when I become too attached to the material transitory world of illusion.

Where are you this Holiday Season? Join me in thanking God for what I have and more grateful for what I don’t. My presence this year is offering presents to those who need a share of the blessings God afforded me. Won’t you join me in doing the same?

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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I saw the figures for Super Friday shopping—the day after Thanksgiving—and consumers are spending 18% over that same 30-day ‘shop ‘til you drop’ period last year. All retailers are pulling out all stops: discounting everything in the store or online 20%-40% from the first day of bonanza retail buying. It makes you wonder how we ever got so attached to outspending and out buying our neighbors. Talk about keeping up with the Joneses!

But I have a better idea about where to get that rush from the Holiday Season. The greatest gift you can ever give someone is yourself. It can be something you baked or made—or it can be literally giving yourself to volunteer at a soup kitchen, visiting shut-ins at a local nursing home or a long-term care facility or finding a needy family to surprise with a few sacks of groceries and a special toy for the youngsters under fourteen. If you ever want to experience the real joy of what the Holidays are all about give of yourself. And don’t forget my favorite slogan for Christmas: What can I do for you?

Happy Holidays and a Prosperous 2010

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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