Decisions, Blame and Joy

So much to do, so many decisions to make and questions about it all. What to do next, what direction to take, which road is the one I want to be on and is it what it appears to be?

This is my current place in life, I expected it, I think I actually wanted it and now I have it, woo-hoo!

Do not get me wrong, I am not complaining about it, much, but one thing I realized on my trip was the answer for a question that I have been asking for many years and I often hear from friends, family and clients, "What am I supposed to be doing, what direction should I be going in?" Personally, I tend to throw in the "G" card as if it makes it a more valued question and not just the bigger excuse it really is.

On rare occasions, I find that the Universe has a specific plan set up for an individual, usually it is about following a general path of character and the one thing so many of us, myself included, seem to hate; making a decision.

Some of us like to get the opinions of others and then internally shift any responsibility or blame onto those who we listened to, God gets this one a lot I am sure...  LOL

Simply put it is all our choice and our decision to make, everything, every day.

What we forget is that, as Joseph Campbell used to say, "Follow your Bliss!" Your bliss is your Spirit passing along what is the correct answer, and only becomes problematic when we ignore it.

One thing to be aware of, bliss is not always what brings the easiest or happiest path in the short-term, in fact I find that from the short view it is often the harder and more painful of the options, at least at first. Most often it is the fear we have placed into our decision making process that causes our next step to seem so difficult.

I am in one of those places right now, I want to pursue my writing; both the Spiritgeek in general, like this blog, and the work with people in one-on-one settings, but I also need to come up with that lovely stuff called cash which seems to push toward getting a more traditional job, at least in the short-term.

So while I stall in making my final decision, not really final as I can always change it, I am working on both paths to see where they both may lead in the next week or so. I am actually open to either as one appears to be more direct, but the other may just be a way of taking care of other things that I may need before the other is quite ready.

So what am I going to do? I will know soon enough, I have been getting my personal little signs, I call them my déjà vu moments so I am reasonably comfortable with where I am and what I am doing. I find my inspiration to be a great help and am SLOWLY learning to trust it.

I know that joy is mine and that all things are perfect for their time and place and as much as I like to think otherwise; that includes me. If it includes me, it includes you as well!

ॐ शान्तिशान्ति
Robert Allen

from Mission San Fernando

I have people who want me to write more while I am on this trip, I am trying, but the simple fact is that after you have trudged 12-15 miles while carrying 45 pounds of "stuff" in your pack and, strangely, there have not been that many places to plug in and get online near my daily stops, it is hard to write, little less get it out.

I am trying some new things, my blog has an app, why does that scare me?

Most of my writing has been in a little journal app on my iPhone.

The other part is that this first two weeks has been extremely tough and painful and I don't want to come off as a whiny child (trust me, I have been one a LOT this week).  My feet hurt, well duh! I have noticed that my legs and butt are looking amazing, too bad that I now have too much skin on them, maybe it will tighten up (please please please).  The rest of my weight loss is out of my face and my gut seems to be about normal for me (DAMN! LOL).

Other than the gut part, I expected the rest. This is a huge transition for me.  I have been a fairly sedentary type of guy living in the usual LA way, TV, driving, pretty much an easygoing lifestyle.

I have been surprised by how little I actually miss certain things:

• I do not really miss TV, I thought I would; God knows I spent enough time in front of it.
  
• I am not really missing the banal BS conversations that make up the majority of Angelino-speak.  When I talk to people, they are actually interested in what I am saying and I am interested in their words.
  
• My feet hurt from the walking, but I do not really miss driving and definitely not missing traffic and the insanity that passes for "safe driving".

Not so surprising is what I do miss:

• Showers - regular showers
• Nice bed with sheets
• Climate controlled environments
• Sleeping lying down - see below...

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Guerrilla Camping

One of the things I am getting used to, especially the last few days crossing Orange and LA Counties is what I refer to as Guerrilla Camping. This is the art of finding places where you can sleep at night without being harassed or, in some cases, arrested.

When looking for a place to sleep, you want something out of site, not particularly well lit (not a problem for me as I have the straw hat) and someplace the cops will either not see or not care.  I spoke to LAPD last night about this and their response was that even in public space, other than parks, as long as no one calls to complain, they really don't worry about it.

Parks are a different story as they often have posted hours, so after those hours you are officially trespassing. Even then, unless they have some reason to go in, the odds are that you are likely ok, but it is a risk.

I have noticed that the police do not seem to bother you for sleeping in public spaces at night if you are upright. I am learning how to sleep sitting up with my pack behind me. The toughest part is that after a while, your butt really hurts because the ground tends to be hard and uneven, so it wakes me every hour or so to shift, oh well...

The one thing that I have become aware of is the great mystery of sprinklers. You never know if and when they are going to go off and the last thing one wants is everything one owns soaking from a poorly timed sleep session.

The other night I had found this space and was so tired that I almost did not worry about my tarp. I had bought this tarp for under my tent, but it has been more useful for this than anything else...

The way this works is like this, I open up a little less than half of it (I should have bought a larger one) and put my pack in the fold and then take the rest over the pack and then over me.  I sleep on one end of it and the opposite end acts like a blanket of sorts. 

So the other night, I set this up and at 5:00am, suddenly I heard the dreaded sound of water heading into the sprinkler system. Thanks to having taken the time to set it up, my boots got a little wet and that was basically it, I and everything else was dry.

The other aspect of Guerrilla Camping that takes some getting used to is something close to public bathing.  When you do not have anywhere else to clean up, you clean up where you can, park restrooms are not the easiest to work with sometimes, but water and walls are about all one really needs, assuming you brought a washcloth and a towel.

Am I spotless? Oh Hell no! I am reasonably clean and feeling like I might actually pass for something akin to civilized.

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So this is the practical things I have been dealing with and I think I have at least a passing grade.

On a more metaphysical/Spiritual level, I have been practicing a form of walking meditation that allows me to be somewhat conscious of what is happening around me while focusing on my meditation.  I'll write about that later.

I have some other things that I am working on, this trip has been something of an eyeopener when it comes to some of the contradictions that make up our society, but that is going to take a while to write the way it should be, give me time...

Blessings all!

Robert

Blessings in Disaster

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson
As citizens, we often look at the documents of the founding of our country as if they are not part of the world that we live in, they are separate from our day-to-day lives. Yet, it is the direct and simple truths of many of them that make them so special in the annuls of time and writing.

Recently I have been going through a life lesson that has been a direct assault on some of my personal biggest fears. I saw it coming, I knew I was going to need to deal with it, and yet, I put myself through two years of, probably, unnecessary pain and anguish.

Nearly three years ago, I panicked. I was in a place of no money, about to face the real possibility of eviction and a car that was not currently functioning.

In late October two things happened; first, a friend wanted to leave a living situation with two other friends and on paper, well, it looked like it would cut the expenses nearly in half (later I would find out the difference in the utilities would demolish that theory). I had also been looking for a job, and though I really did not want to reenter an industry that I had been in previously, I can always get a job in it. If the job had been acquired just two days earlier, the fiasco of the living arrangement could have been completely avoided.

I was aware that the new employer was a good man, but, as we all do, had a few issues and was known to be a bit volatile. With my past experiences, I thought I could handle it, right…

The new roommates were friends and while living with others always has its challenges, worst case, you go hide in your room for a bit and let whatever pass, sure…

If I had known what the Universe was planning for me, I would have run away screaming like a maniac and considered finding a pretty monastery to cloister myself in.

Instead, I was in a self imposed illusion of safety, at best. The fools paradise started to show its true colors; one roommate was a disaster, so much so that when they gave notice before Christmas, I was elated and thought about throwing a party at the very idea (you know those moments, polite behavior requires you to say "are you sure this is what you want?" But, inside you are doing the Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy-Dance).

A few days later, during a discussion of what we wanted in a replacement, the other roommate gave me notice that he was moving as well, well that sucks! Now there are any numbers of reasons I could list that would make it obvious that neither was going to be any help finding replacements and I was working my butt off on the new job.

So on February 1^st I was holding the bag on just short of $1900 a month in rent, work was showing what the reality of the situation was, but I was now stuck. I was working six days a week, plus taking in extra work whereever I could get it.

It was not a complete disaster, the electric bill dropped from over $300 to about $45 (LA DWP stock dropped substantially), a friend ended using one spare bedroom to finish recording an album, some other friends rented the other bedroom for a couple of months while visiting from Europe. It was hard work, but it had some great times.

It took seven months, but when I moved out, I paid the final rent, 1^st and last on the new place, and for the first time in my life, paid movers instead of doing it myself, I consider that to be a major success!

Now that Phase One was complete, it was time to learn the other part of the lesson, Oh, you did not get part one? Stop freaking out! The Universe knows what you need and will provide if you will just let it.

Phase Two was going to be more than just working through it, it would require entering the dark caves of my being and facing some of what have become surprisingly powerful issues with me, the Job (cue dark dramatic music)!

I was quickly aware that this was not a good situation to be in, there were major clashes between my personality and that of my employer. As it was to turn out, it was to be a question of how much a "paycheck" was worth and just what was I willing to participate in to acquire one. As it turned out, I have become quite surprised at just how much!

In the last few months I have been trying to work on other projects while dealing with the issues at work (I really do think "work" should be added to that list of four-lettered words not used in polite society). I saw things deteriorating around me and I began desperately looking for alternatives, should I just get another job in the same industry, pays the bills but not likely to be particularly fulfilling. Should I go into another industry, or maybe the Universe has something else in mind.

I must have been ready, not that I necessarily realized it, as the whole situation finally collapsed in on itself, or in laymen's terms, I got fired. When it happened, I was pissed! After I cooled down, I was predominantly relieved and now a couple of days later, I actually want to thank my former employer for it, I am off the fence, a direction toward tomorrow has been placed at my feet and I will see where it goes.

So back to where we started, The Declaration of Independence, or more directly, when the Universe or Spirit guides you toward things, be willing to pursue them for often one has to declare independence from the now to create tomorrow. The alternative can be a very uncomfortable drop kicking, just saying.

Is Gay the new Jew?

Not long ago, while DOMA and California's Prop. 8 were being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, there was also a collection of stories in the news from around the world, same-sex marriage bans, criminalization of saying anything pro-gay and in some places, the possibility of being imprisoned for life for being honest about it in one's own life. Russia has since declared open season on gay men.

About the same time, I saw a collection of stories that asked the question, "Is Gay the new Black?" The population of Americans of African Ancestry sometimes come across as if they hold some unique history of suffering in their past, similar to speaking with Jews about the Holocaust, as if only 6 million Jews were killed and not 5-6 million non-Jews as well. We really seem to love and take pride in our pain.

While I was working on the previous blog entry, "Judas Iscariot & Adolf Hitler", I was really re-awakened to how the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler used longstanding cultural hatreds to persuade people to do and allow despicable things to be done to others.

I am often amazed at the things people are willing to justify to validate their need to demonize those who think, feel, believe or love differently then themselves. There seems to be a nearly pathological need in the human ego to be right and to make others conform to its view of rightness.

While thinking about the one and hearing about the other, I started to compare the three: Black, Jew and Gay. In many ways I found them to be surprisingly similar from a "haters" perspective.

All three have collections of people who deny their personhood because of aspects of themselves, the hated, are not in control of; yes, it is possible to convert your religion, but Germany was interested in bloodlines and you can deny your sexual orientation, but I cannot imagine that is ever a happy and fulfilling relationship for either party.

From the specific view of the fight for civil rights, Black and Gay have many similarities, but I think in many ways, Jew and Gay are much more in alignment. Race, somewhat cannot be hidden. A light-skinned person may choose to pass for whatever reason, but most do not have that option open to them.

Jew and Gay are both things that in the "predominant society" can be kept quiet and hidden away into those secret places, both require a statement of self to make others aware.

Both have suffered from cultural and historic misunderstandings and persecutions for standing up for who they are. In many places, it takes serious personal strength to admit to those around you what you are, and if you come from a more Orthodox background, to wear the clothing that will mark you as an outsider, how much less to be a "girlie-boy" and just be what God made you.

The lies of Jewish persecutors have ranged from the ridiculous to the laughably insane, with the need to demean another to justify the hatred and invalidation of another; Christian babies are slaughtered for their blood for Jewish religious rituals, get real. Homosexuals have likewise been slandered in the need of an unquestioning majority to justify the ability to validate bashing; Gay men cannot procreate so they must recruit your children. Gay men cannot be near small boys as they will want to molest them, but the fact that most men on boy sexual assaults take place by self-proclaimed heterosexual men.

As far as Germany goes, in the concentration camps, Jews were given the golden Star of David to demarcate them from the other populations, but in the hierarchy of the social structure, as much as the Jews were hated by Germans and other prisoners, there was a group of lower status, they wore a pink triangle to show them as homosexual.
Either way, Black, Jew or Gay, the simple fact is that "if you can hate one, you can easily hate another" (if you know who said that, please let me know) and yet:

“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.”

Herman Hesse
I often wonder what aspect of race, religion or orientation triggers within ourselves and what place that self-love/loathing inhabits? I firmly believe that to be truly human, will eventually require each of us to look within and find those self-loved spots that we have been taught to feel shame for that allows us to deny personhood to another, whatever the reason.

“In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.”

Michael Jackson

Judas Iscariot & Adolf Hitler

“You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.”

“A Late Delivery from Avalon” Marcus Cole
Babylon 5 Season 3 Episode 13
22 Apr 1996, Television
It has been an ongoing discussion that probably the hardest part of following the pathway back to Source or allowing the Law of Attraction to work in our life is the lesson that WE are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in our lives. We either caused it, or chose it. Since we live in a state of self-induced amnesia, we usually do not remember these choices, actually it is our avoidance of this fact as to WHY we live in that state.

Unless you are a Sociopath or a Psychopath (I can never remember which is which), it is part of human nature to do what one thinks or believes is right. Throughout history, there have been many people that have been tagged by the world as dark and evil and from the common perspective of things, they were; so let us look at two of them.

Judas Iscariot

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In several pieces of scripture, mainly from the east, there are examples of people that have been asked to be the "Bad Guy" at the behest of God or some advanced being so that other good could come out of it. We could look into them, but since they are unfamiliar to most of my audience, let's start from one of Christianity's most despised characters, Judas Iscariot.

The version that most people know is that Judas, one of the original 12 Apostles, was the money-keeper and later betrayed Jesus to the Jewish leadership for 30 pieces of silver and after the crucifixion, hung himself.

Among the Christian Gnostics, there has long been a tradition that Judas and Jesus were very close friends since childhood. The story goes that when Jesus was in Egypt, to escape the slaughter of the innocents by Herod, that a possessed child, Judas, was brought before him and after removing the demon, they became fast friends.

Many years later, back in Judea, they reclaimed their friendship and Judas became a close follower and later announced to be one of the chosen 12 Apostles.

The Canonical Gospels all agree that Judas had met with the Jewish Leadership before the Feast of Passover and made the arrangements to turn Jesus over to them, as Matthew says:

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Matthew 26:14-16 KJV
According to the Gnostic tradition, at some point Jesus had asked Judas to do what he did, hence the calm and supportive statement at the last supper, when Jesus announces that someone will betray him, but John gives us an insight when Jesus says to Judas:

That thou doest, do quickly.

John 13:27b KJV
A surprisingly supportive and encouraging statement for what Jesus knows is about to begin.

I have always wondered about the statement in each of the Gospels where the writers attribute Judas being possessed by Satan, I guess the writers needed to explain why he did it. It may have also just been a judgment and a need to demarcate "him" from "us". This brings us to what Jesus had to say about passing judgment in general:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Matthew 7:1-5 KJV
Keep these verses in mind, we will be coming back to their content in a few moments.

Adolf Hitler

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The vast majority of people in today's world do not think that there is much one can say about Adolf Hitler, as far as the "PC" crowd goes, anything in a remotely positive light will basically cause the doorway to Hell to open and swallow you whole. (Since I am about to say less than hateful things, I went to the store and bought dogs and marshmallows, just in case they are right.)

When we look at European History, we find a long tradition of anti-Semitic thought, yet we are still inclined to think that Hitler created this hatred out of thin air as a political ploy. Sadly, it was actually the re-emergence of longstanding animosities between European Christians and their Jewish neighbors taken to drastic and dark new heights of action, though even the killing of masses of Jews was not a new idea in Europe, by both Christians and Muslims.

Adolf Hitler, along with much of Germany, despised the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War with its economic sanctions and crippling reparations. The declaration in Article 231 which placed the blame and responsibility on Germany as the cause of World War I was seen as a national humiliation.

One oft overlooked fact is that the National Socialist German Workers' Party, then called DAP, started as a response to the Treaty of Versailles by a cadre of people who already had;

"...antisemitic, anti-monarchist and anti-Marxist views, as well as believing in the superiority of Germans whom nationalists claimed to be part of the Aryan "master race" (Herrenvolk), but he [Anton Drexler, founder of the DAP] also accused international capitalism of being a Jewish-dominated movement and denounced capitalists for war profiteering in World War I."

"National Socialist German Workers' Party" Wikipedia.org
The point being that Adolf did not create these mentalities, but used them to his advantage later when he came into power in the party. Sadly, these thoughts were not that uncommon in much of Europe at the time and specifically in Germany. Add to this mix the whole "Master Race" silliness and you have a recipe for a disaster of immense proportions and that is exactly what it turned into, as some 11-12 million plus people would attest to.

A Larger Perspective

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(OK, for those of you with delicate constitutions, brace yourself...)
From the common perspective, Hitler and his associates turned into one of the deadliest examples of man's inhumanity to man and we tend to pass that completely sane judgment onto the events in Europe under the Nazi Party as well as on the actions of Judas Iscariot toward Jesus.

"A Course in Miracles" has an interesting statement when it comes down to the whole judgement thing:

1. When you lack confidence in what someone will do, you are attesting to your belief that he is not in his right mind.
2. This is hardly a miracle-based frame of reference.
3. It also has the disastrous effect of denying the power of the miracle.
4. The miracle perceives everything as it is.
5. If nothing but the truth exists, right-minded seeing cannot see anything but perfection.
6. I have said that only what God creates or what you create with the same Will has any real existence.
7. This, then, is all the innocent can see.
8. They do not suffer from distorted perception.

Schucman, Helen, A Course in Miracles
1996, 2^nd Edition, "Text" Chap 3 Sec II Par 3
New York: Viking: The Foundation for Inner Peace
If we expand our view to include the perfection of all things in their time and place, as difficult as that seems (especially from our limited perspective), the actions of both Judas and Hitler must be perfect as well.  This will drive many to very angry places, we thrive on our ability to judge ourselves superior and others as inferior. We could almost call this "Nazi Light" in that it is in the diminishment of others that we plant the seeds that history has shown us we are capable of.

Here in the United States we like to think ourselves to evolved for such insanity, but are we really?  At the same time Hitler was incarcerating anyone he saw as an impediment to his holding of power, what were we doing? We had started rounding up anyone of Japanese descent and putting them into internment camps under the guise of self-protection, albeit Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, but we did not round up German descendants even when it became clear that war with Germany was likely, if not imminent.

Very shortly later, it was not biology but an ideology that we deemed as being less than "us" during the "Red Scare" of McCarthyism. As a nation we had decided that anyone of a differing opinion on the subject of Democracy was a threat and therefor less than, leading to Senator McCarthy's "Black Lists".

Of course we justified it, there were "very good" reasons, it made sense and as a nation we convinced ourselves that it was the right thing to do. We did not think of ourselves as anti-social, we believed that it was correct.

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All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,

William Shakespeare, As You Like It Act II Scene VII
Shakespeare wrote this as part of a piece describing the seven acts, or stages of life, ranging from infancy to old age. Many have also used it to describe the basic framework for explaining reincarnation of a single Spirit into multiple lives over the span of time.

There is a certain logic to the idea of reincarnation, that the eternal Spirit continues to learn beyond a single life. In traditional Christianity the idea is dismissed in favor of the idea that one has a relatively short period to make the right decision and if not, an eternity to pay for it. To me, that seems to make the Christian God excessively vindictive for a lack of understanding and acceptance. Of course there is the part of me that would find the traditional view to give credence to the verses where it speaks of the punishments for those who mislead others.

There is the old expression about not judging someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes, it gives you an insight into what is behind the reasoning for their actions.

An Example

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One example comes from the "broader view" of sexual permissiveness; in the U.S. we have a large collection of people who just cannot get over the fact that some people have sex outside marriage, as someone once wrote, "Promiscuous is anyone getting laid more than you are."

Now I am not saying that sleeping around is necessarily a good thing (albeit, more fun and better entertainment than most network programming), but what people are really searching for in this activity is happiness, and eventually they will realize that though enjoyable, the joy is fleeting and cannot be made permanent. Ironically, it is the attempt to hold onto these happy, pleasant and enjoyable experiences that make us even more miserable in that as the Buddha said as his 2^nd Noble Truth; attachment to impermanent things breed sorrow (OK, technically the 2^nd Noble Truth is that sorrow is caused by attachments, but in his later discourses he clarifies the previous statement's meaning. An example of this would be the old adage; even the best sex becomes commonplace after a while).

Some of us learn from our pain quickly, others take longer and some seem to be as addicted to their pains and sorrows worse than any addict to Crack or Heroin.

A Constitutional Preamble for the 21st Century

Today is the 4^th of July, also known as Independence Day.

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Wikipedia - Independence Day (United States)
Sadly, as the years have gone by and the dumbing-down of the masses has continued, Independence Day is quickly becoming the American equivalent to "Cinco de Mayo" with bar-b-ques and fireworks. Yes, I do know that Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Day of Independence, but in the U.S. it has become the Mexican equivalent St. Patrick's Day, basically a reason to get plastered, but since it is a federal holiday many get holiday pay for it.

As much as that is somewhat to be expected, what is actually much more sad is that the promise that many aspects of the foundation of the United States foretold, freedom, justice and this wonderful experiment in Representational Democracy, is in danger of falling to the wayside in the near future.

As a nation, there is what appears to be a very dangerous formula in the works and the outcome would be the destruction of the shining beacon that is the potential for a nation.

I was recently re-reading Baird T. Spalding's "Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East" and I was touched by how one of his guides on the trip was so enamored with the United States and its promise to the world for the future.

In recent years though, we have been witness to a fundamental shift in how America runs and the goals for which it appears to be pursuing, sadly from my perspective, they are as "Un-American" as anything Joseph McCarthy would have come up with.

I could go into detail on where we stopped being President Lincoln's vision of a "government of the people, by the people, for the people," and his belief that it "shall not perish from the earth." We have allowed ourselves to become a government of the Rich, by the Powerful Media Conglomerates and for profits at all costs without even thinking about the consequences of these changes.

So I have decided that the Preamble to the US Constitution, which was ratified nearly 12 years after the Declaration of Independence and is the highest law of the land, should be modified to address the view of those who have been given the country on a silver platter as follows:

We the [Rich and Powerful] People [and Corporations] of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union [for the protection of our profit margins], establish Justice [based on Christian Sharia], insure domestic Tranquility [through mind-numbing mass media], provide for the common defense [against the proletariat], promote the general Welfare [when we absolutely must or their labor is needed], and secure the Blessings of  Liberty  [Profitability] to ourselves and our Posterity [only], do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America[, Inc.].

Science vs. Religion

There has recently been a resurgence of the argument between those of a Religious bent and those who are more Secularist.  When I was a kid it was purely a Science vs. Religion argument of Evolution vs Creationism, in recent years, the moderate religionists have re-framed the argument as Evolution vs Intelligent Design.

As far as I can tell, Intelligent Design is basically Creationism expressed in such a way as not to refer to a specific religious character, the God of Abraham, Jesus and Mohammed.

This is hardly a new concept in the ongoing battle of Science vs Religion.  In the Christian world, this has been going on since the Second Century with Tertullian vs. Origen.  At some point it was decided; that which could be seen or studied would be in the realm of Science and that which could not would be the realm of Spirit and by default the Church.

As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Abrahamic creation narrative.

Wikipedia: Creationism
We could go on and on with the history of the observed conflicting with the beliefs in many cultures and religions throughout history, not really what I want to do, but Wikipedia offers a good place to start here.

A Different Perspective

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I look at this "battle" and cannot help but giggle since I see the need for one or the other to be right and the other to be wrong to be nothing more than an expression of the Ego.  What if there was a way for both to be right?

When I read Moses' creation story in Genesis I am truly impressed with just how close his history is with what Science says in the Theory of Evolution, not bad for someone who lived 3200 years ago.

Science and Religion are not really in conflict, because in fact their true subjects of study are completely different and not at odds.

Science is the study of how the Universe is put together, the laws that apparently underline those structures and how they interact with one another.  Science is the realm of actual history, what actually physically happened and how it occurred.  If you want to insert the concept of God into Science, it only would be "How he did it."

Religion is actually the study of why.  Why would a Benevolent Deity go to all this trouble, what is the point?  The historical questions that often get written about for these explanations most often are based on tribal mythology and allegorical explanation, not fact.  Now many Religionists are going to take offense at this, I have attacked the inerrancy or the infallibility of their Scripture.

So to me, and those like me, Science explores how this amazing thing we call reality is structured and put together, Religion explains the why and seeks to help me to re-engage with that higher part of myself called Spirit.

An Ego A Day...

The teachers from the East, Buddha, Krishna, Rama, Siva, etc., all have one thing in common, they warn us of the enslavement of the Spirit, though not always called that, to Ego in one form or another. I have always thought that if the Creator gave it to us, then it must have some purpose in the grand scheme of things.

The best reasoning that I have heard, which made surprisingly good sense to me when I first heard it, was that the ego started off as a warning system for the body to notify the Spirit that it was in need of something.  Bodies do tend to be needy little creatures, always needing food or shelter or something.

Somewhere along the line, the Ego became aware that it could manipulate Spirit into giving into desires that did not actually serve a purpose, but were pleasant feeling.  We like pleasure, especially over pain, and the Ego was off and running.

I have often written and spoken of the fact that we are Spiritual, eternal, entities and that physical bodies are just the theater used to interact within this thing we call creation. We create, experience and destroy (Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva) the world of Maya (illusion) around us.

Learn to recognize the Ego when it is requesting an actual need, take care of it, the body is a gift bestowed upon us. Also learn when the Ego is attempting to run amok, it will ask for anything and everything. By watching and learning, you (the Spirit Entity) regain control over the alarm system and in time the Ego will go back to what it was supposed to be.

"The 65" and the true power in the USA

"The 99" are the people that have been left behind by the few with all the money and power in our country, though I suspect it has become a cancer throughout our modern world.

Sadly, there are a third who have drunk so much of the Kool-Aid that they will never be willing or able to see that they are slaves in the deepest of bondage. In the days of African slavery in this country, there was the expression of the "House Nigger" who believed they had the best their life could offer, maybe they did for the world and time they lived in, but they were so tied to this belief they would never be willing to act against their bondage.

This third will listen to their Corporate Masters and do as they are told for a collection of reasons that will mainly be nothing but justifications of their fear of rocking the boat, their belief that they do have some life and their fear that it could be worse. It very well may be that they are eternally lost; that their belief in what has happened to them is truly just, they are to be pitied and held up as examples of what the 1% has done, do not hate them for they are lambs that have succumb to the indoctrination they are for slaughter on the alters of greed and power.

"The 65" can change the nation!

The 1% may hold the money and power to flood the market with their message, "The 65" still carry the majority where it truly counts, the ability to actually cast a vote. This is why the 1% are trying so hard to exclude people from being able to exercise their right to cast that vote.

It will require taking a chance for electing people who care about you, even if they do not share all your beliefs and opinions. The media is owned and operated by the Masters and that small percentage that is not, lives under the tyranny of having their advertising revenues cut by the other side of the same Board Rooms that own the rest of the Media. It truly is a leviathan that we have allowed to grow on Wall St and in Washington, amongst other places.

The simple fact is that in the long run, this is a war of attrition, they cannot win this battle unless "The 65" or "The 99" let them.

"In 1917 Gandhi said that the people's victory against the British was a mathematical certainty. "100,000 English cannot control 35 million Indians who choose to disobey." Two years later, in April 1919, after the British proposed new laws which would deny Indians basic civil liberties, Gandhi demonstrated this power of disobedience by calling for a "national day of prayer and fasting" which had the effect of a national strike. He understood the power of right and the power of non-cooperation, and used them successfully for the first time."

"Mohandas Gandhi: The Art of Nonviolence"
by Peter N. Herndon
This simple idea brought the British Empire to its knees, the very same principle will throw our attempted Masters into a tailspin, for the 1% is only three-million people, of which I suspect the actual brokers are far less than that, but before you think that is so much and impossible, "The 65" are around 200,000,000.

Calling "The 65" to take action...

I call on "The 65" to unify under the banner of reclaiming our Nation, removing the Masters and what they have been allowed to become through our negligence as a nation. Some will be Christian, others will not be, some will support the right of a woman to choose while others will not, some will support Love in whatever its form and celebrate it with all the rights and privileges, responsibilities and obligations of marriage and yet others will not. These are the illusions used to control you for if you truly believe in American Freedom, it cannot be just yours alone, but the freedom for others to choose differently; without this, it is not freedom, but hypocrisy.

Throw off the chains of your Masters and use that large mass of grey matter that your God or evolution put there for a reason, not just to keep our heads from imploding.

You want an idea of just how simple it is to have a bloodless-coup? If "The 65" can get together and vote for the big picture and not get lost in the divisiveness that will be used to manipulate and control them, in as little as six years the entire system can be overthrown without a single act of violence. It should actually be much faster than that, this is actually a worst case scenario. In reality, a single election in 2012 with a united voice will change enough of the current structure to force them to change on their own.

"The 65" and the NEW Revolution

Changing this country does not require a Revolution of Blood in the traditional sense, the blood that counts is not red, but in America it is the blood of the green; that is the second way you bring them into control, their bottom lines, but that is for another day and another time.

Think about where the power of "The 65" can be applied, work with your fellow countrymen, they may not agree in all things, but they do agree with you on the big issue reclaiming the United States from the 1% minority, that is where the war really is.

Oxymorons pt2 - The "Why"

I reread my last blog entry and I realized that it expressed some of my frustrations with the world of 21^st Century America (the rest of the world is jumping onto the bandwagon as well), but I did not really express why I was putting them out into the world.

For all the altruistic reasons that I can think of, the simple fact is that there were (and are) only three reasons.

1. Those items are some of my personal favorite facepalm moments. We are supposedly an intelligent species, I keep wondering when we will begin acting like one.
   
   
2. A warning of things to come.
   
   
3. I had a plate of cheese and crackers nearby and wanted to have a bit of a wine fest, so I let it rip (next time I will just stick with a bottle of Two Buck Chuck, a better buzz).

The Universe is actually an exceedingly just and balanced place, with both the good and the bad that happens being deserved. People get the reactions to the thoughts and actions that they put out into the world (consciously or otherwise), as well as nation-states getting the leadership (or lack thereof) the people deserve or, more accurately, create (scary thought that).

Many people do not like this philosophy and as often that I hear the examples of good things happening to bad people, as well as the reverse, I find it to be the only way that the Universe and/or Bob (God) could be anything resembling good. Add to this the idea of reincarnation, that multiple lifetimes are involved, and it makes for an excellent and fair system from the big picture, while not so much from the smaller, self-induced amnesiac, perspective.

I spend a lot of time contemplating the likely reaction to the actions of the world today. We are on a path of self-destruction and I cannot help but wonder if George Carlin was right when he reminded us that "Saving the Planet" is an arrogant self-indulgent statement, the Earth will definitely outlast mankind, it's us that needs the saving if we wish to continue to live here.

Life will always exist on this planet, the question is if it will be compatible with our current form, homosapien.

It is out of compassion that I bring these things to your attention.

Compassion of this type is like telling someone they are about to step into a bear-trap, it is rarely appreciated, but, in my opinion, is preferable in that it allows the avoidance the oncoming pain. Sadly, we tend to be so focused on our perspective that we dismiss the warning, step into the trap and then blame the person who warned us for not being more forceful(?) with it (a no win situation for sure, now you know why prophets tend to keep their mouth shut).

It reminds me of the old joke:

The river is rising and Mrs. Smith's house is flooding, a truck comes by and offers to take her to higher ground, "Oh, no thank you, I have faith in God to protect me."

The water rises higher and a boat comes by an offers to take her to safety, and once again, the response is, "Oh, no thank you, I have faith in God to protect me."

Finally, the water is up to the roof and a helicopter drops a ladder to her and still she says, "Oh, no thank you, I have faith in God to protect me."

Eventually the water rushes over her and she drowns in the swollen river. Mrs. Smith comes before God and asks, "I had faith in you to protect me, why did you allow this to happen?"

God looks at her and says, "I sent a truck, a boat and even a helicopter, what more did you expect?"

So I ask you, what more do YOU expect and what will it take to motivate you to change things, or do you like where they are going?

Of course, there is the off chance that I am just a bit pessimistic and Politicians and Corporations really do have our best interest at heart and I am just to short-sighted to see it (sure, and donkey's fly).

Oxymorons of our day

I hear people complain about what they see as wrong with the world (I am amazed how much of this time is spent with the dog-and-pony show presented by the media), but the vast majority are not willing to actually DO anything, they would rather go hang with there friends at the club or watch TV until their brains turn into something with the consistency of tapioca.

If we continue our current path of apparently shortsighted and selfishness as a people, what does that say about us and where will it take us?  So I hereby place a few of the most obvious (to me at least) political/cultural oxymorons of our time;

1. How have we convinced people that their children do not need an education while at the same time discussing the dumbing down of the nation and its inability to raise children who cannot compete in the global marketplace?
   
   I hear people talking about the privatizing of basic social services, from schools to even police and fire departments. Should I be happy when I see a child carrying a textbook that is labelled as "sponsored by Company-X?" Can I count on it being accurate?
   
   
2. How was it that the poor and middle-classes have been convinced that any social safety-net should be done away with during a difficult economic time, but the mega-rich deserve to keep tax cuts that would have paid for it all, not new taxes but the expiration of a temporary easements, that's why they were called "tax cuts" to begin with. Has anyone noticed the Reagan's "Trickle Down Economics" seems to have been dammed somewhere between the mega-rich and the middle-class, not to mention the lower-class.
   
   
3. I remember being told that "Freedom of the Press" was what made us so much better than them, but the press in this country is no longer free, I would propose that it is currently less free in America than it was in the former Soviet Republic's "Pravda".
   
   In today's United States, the slavery of the press is not to the government, but to the corporations that either own the media or pay for and extort the media through advertising.
   
   
4. When people think Rush Limbaugh is a reporter, he's a political commentator (analyst at best) last time I checked, and Fox News actually compares itself to political satirists as proof of its validity to be claimed as news, (let's not even discuss "fair and balanced"), what does it say about where we have gone as a nation?

This is by NO means a complete list of issues in this country, but it is a beginning, a place to begin.  The simple fact is that if you think things are bad now, without some course correction, it gets a lot worse.

The longer things are allowed to follow their current path, the harder it will be to not only actually institute change, but the barriers placed by those who have accumulated power will be all that much harder to remove.

So I will leave you with some favorite quotes from one of the Founding Fathers;

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories."

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."

“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”

Thomas Jefferson

Problem Solving 101

I have heard it said on many occasions that the only constant in the Universe is change. Depending on the day, ones mood, what the latest change is and how you deal with it will determine you feelings toward this.

I have been going through a plethora of changes as of late. I thought the end of last year was going to be the majority, but so far this year has all been about changes. I sometimes forget that when I go through these moments that I can get so close to them that it is like walking up to a cliff-face, knowing there is something wonderful up there, but being so close, all I can see is the looming wall in my way.

These moments are actually good things, blessings. When you face them, know that it is NEVER insurmountable, and if at all possible, remember that you placed it there. Celebrate the moment of growth that is before you.

I know that sounds a bit silly to many of you, but if you can re-align your perception of the moment from viewing it as an obstacle to viewing it as an adventure, you will find whatever it is to be much easier to get through.

One of my favorite benefits of this view is that it allows you to reclaim your power over the situation. You are no longer its victim or having it done TO you, but now you have the power to DO TO IT what you wish.

The first few times it can seem impossible, but take a step back, a deep breath or two and just look at what is directly in front of you and deal with that. Then you can go on to what appears next, if you deal with it in this way, before you know it, that MAJOR difficulty suddenly becomes a collection of tiny little problems and before you know it, they are all out of the way and you can look back and ask yourself; "What was I thinking?"