Justntime

THE VIRTUAL UNREALITY OF LIFE - 911

2011-09-11T12:29:00.075-06:00

Thinking too seriously can alter your life view;

if you choose to consciously create one.

It can also assist you in understanding spiritual transformation,

to see Possibility - that which clearly goes unseen in life.

- igman'09112011

(Commemorating the lives lost this day ten years ago, and the hope for those who remain....

What are we left to do with our lives and how are we to do it?)

Do you know what it feels like on the other side of Love?   Truly no one knows except through imagination, because there is no possibility beyond Love. We've got to learn to think anew about the definition we've given to Love that causes us to limit our understanding of it. Love is 360 degrees of infinite possibility that has benefits that are more than we are enabled to think in its entirety.  Love is communication of all possibility of giving and receiving. It is the eternal universal language that is understood all over the world by everything, annimate and inannimate within the world. It is the Divine Law.

So what is meant for our experience we call living life, where there is so much suffering and so much pain? Are we learning anything at all from the past where the suffering as well as the hope is passed forward? Does the egg in the mouth of the mythical Sankofa bird [at the left] birth nothing relevant for our futures and the futures of our children?

Why is there so much concentration of hate for the hated and so little love for the many friends who may think different thoughts than do we? Are we helping ourselves to hate our enemies rather than resolving our differences?  Isn't that what we do with our friends? Recently I've heard the outrageous notion of word inventions such as "frenemy!" I'm told it means to make your enemy think he's your friend temporarily. Just how treacherously can we imagine in our inhumanity?

Today, as I listen to the outward and uplifted voices of the surviving relatives of the victims of 911, hearing and feeling the pain of the names being read at the Memorial today, I compassionately hear also the cries and desperation of so many other sufferers all around the world.....in the Christian, Islamic, Judaic, Buddhist or whatever world people believe they live in, though there is but this world - OneWorld to live within - I suddenly begin feeling their pain and their suffering, just like that of our people and our nation. I remember how we as Americans, upon a common attack, suddenly put aside our differences that earlier seemed so important. No Republican or Democrat, no Black or White or Brown or Yellow; we came together to survive an attack upon a symbol that took its toll upon innocents. And around the world, this pattern of attack upon innocents leaves them as victims also, of some other side of some other ideology. But it doesn't end there; this negative pattern vibrates all over the world because we are living in a connected world. It is quite disheartening.

Political ideology makes a poor headstone for the death of innocence; it is also a sad refrain for a death song of so many....and still the bell awaits its chance to toll for thee...

.....Enemies you say!  What of our enemies? On May 2, 2011, Osama Bin Laden was killed. When news came, at first I felt excitement and jubilation for the nation. Then suddenly I felt hollow and empty and void. I noticed I was not relieved from the misery of the memory of September 11, 2001. Two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-six innocent people were still dead. Nothing had changed. How could one death make up for so many innocents losing their lives? His death was largely symbolic; symbols can never live up to Truth. I spoke to others and several said they experienced the same sort of emptiness, not for him but for the absence of any true satisfaction in his death? Our Scripture teaches us about the emptiness of vengence.

What was your individual experience in your confines of that moment?   We are still left with the quiet desperation of living life with the causes of the effects of this entire madness. "How do we relieve the causes of life's tragedies upon itself," I remember thinking?

Have you ever given any thought to the innocents on either ideologic side of this madness who may have subsequently died since this tragic day ten years ago? Can you cross the imaginery lines of national soverignty to experience the innocent's pain and suffering? Does it feel differently to them than it does to us? Can you imagine how they too are thinking in their loss? Have you given any thought to imagining behind the eyes of the innocent children and families who are left without, to sort through the mess of thIs madness?

Do you think this is the way we are meant to live with OneAnother? Did Christ not say ".... Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you? Is this too much to ask of us, and more than we can bear to give Love at this point in life? What did Christ truly mean saying this impossible directive for us in this life? I'd like to understand.

I have chosen to call this life we live, The Virtual Unreality of Life. It is the Imagined Thought World. We believe it is reality but it is truly unreality. It is the place of thought where we are to learn and give meaning to our individual lives by learning and giving the power and value of Love in thought and in action. Love is a verb and not a noun. It is always in action because it is its state of being. This world is the collective consciousness we all experience, adding unto it both consciously and unconsciously, one individual at a time. We can change our conscious thinking in this world, in order to transform the conscious world of our circumstances we live in, one individual at a time.

Love is the heavenly apportioned tool of transformation that will deliver us from the misery of living in this place of economic inequity in the division of wealth, of inadequate shelter, of disproportionate provision for hunger and thirst, of strife and war upon the people, until death performs its only translating spiritual mission. Sadly death to some may seem merciful, even before its appointed time.

But let us recognize that we are given this Divine Implement of Love that can be seen metaphorically as a tool. Love is really the means meant to be used to assist in an effort, and not an instrument or doctrine to be admired and worshiped, as if an object in a museum or shrine. Having compassion for OneAnother is the experience of seeing rightly in spirit what needs to be done through all of the misery, and using the tool of Love in action to do for OneAnother and transform the misery of the world into what we imagine heaven to be. I believe this is our combined purpose for being born in this world.

I've long contemplated this troubling thoughtform over and over in my mind and within my heart. I've tried to imagine how GodLove allows this awful misery of life to continue? What possibility could make living this life a necessity if there is no escape from its misery? How long must this go on?

Now do not think this as a message of hopelessness. It is not. It is the message of the same Gospel of Good News without metaphor. It is given under the Guidance Of HolySpirit Which Guides All. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not, It still IS. So please pay attention to the message and not the messenger. The messenger is simply The LightWorker, as are you should you accept to become so. Please read on...

Religion is regarded by the common people as true,
by the wise as false,
and by the rulers as useful.

- Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD).

It is one thing to remember, another to know.

To remember is to safeguard something entrusted to the memory.

But to know is to make each thing one's own,

not depend on the text

and always to look back to the teacher.

"Zeno said this, Cleanthes said this."

Let there be space between you and the book.

- Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD).

*You may note Seneca lived in Rome during the times Jesus lived around 4 BC to about 32 AD.

What Seneca is saying to us is that we must express what is in the book, outside the confines of the book in order to make an impression of its meaning toward each other. It's ok to remember the teacher, but it is best to do what the teacher taught us to do. The Teacher I am now speaking of is the Jesus Example, removing all the proselytizing religiousity from his demonstration.  The Teacher wants us to do what He taught us how to do - Love God and Love OneAnother.  Jesus reminded us about Love of God and Loving OneAnother, saying on these two Commandments hang everything that the prophets and The Law were speaking, and to what He is here to fulfill - to fulfill The Law and Promise and Provision of God's Love. It is in that manner that we deliver honor unto The Teacher when we do that.

In this mysterious life, we already provided the perfect and mysterious departure from this life that we can not escape.  Death is the single point where all life becomes truly equal, regardless of birthright. Death is the equality in this life process, regardless of birthright. Even Jesus departed this life, giving testament to his mission when he exclaimed - TETELESTAI. These are the last words Jesus is said to have proclaimed as He died. He spoke them in the Aramaic language. It Is Finished. He fulfilled His Mission.

Life is the inevitable entryway and death is the inevitable exitway; this process is DivinelyOrdered.  Everyone who has come here must pass this way to escape its misery.  The experiences we have here are left up to each one of us.   Whatever takes place here must be some type of virtual unreality of what life is to be like if left up to our unenlightened humanity as we live it out. It is not real and doesn't last. You could almost think of it as experiencing what George was enabled to see in the classic hit movie, 'It's a Wonderful Life." He learned to appreciate what is real. But unlike the movie, we will come into Reality but it will not be in this world. This world is The Virtual Unreality of Life.

Throughtout our lives we are enlightened by glimpses of hope for tomorrow with everlasting promises.   Yet we are still here. We know we are to be delivered from this underworld of misery through our death, but until then we each have something to do...a mission purpose to fulfill that no one else can deliver into the world. What we are left to do here then, is to give meaning to our lives through our experiences, regardless to our circumstances of nationality, geographic location, economic ability or inability, or our individual birthright to a given family. We are to Give Love from where we are in our circumstances. This is how we will make a difference in this world.

We live with the fact that we each must die, but we seem to believe that it is not really connected with our life, as if life and death are separate experiences. We somehow put death away from our consciousness without ever contemplating it and coming to terms with it. "We die as we live by moment. Each moment lived is a moment dying." Learning how to die allows us the true freedom to learn how to live life abundantly by the moment. What I am meaning here is learning how to experience life consciously and compassionately.    Imagine yourself demonstrating to another person that you feel their pain and suffering enough to care. Imagine yourself feeling good because you are giving Love to others. And imagine yourself receiving Love from others.

What does it feel like to live Life as you just imagined it? Does it feel good and Righteous and in Right Relationship? Does it feel like Love and Truth and Harmony and Inviting, free from religious proselytizing pointing to differences?  Have we become so simpleminded as not to recognize that God made us to look different, placed us in different surroundings, allowed us to intuit differently, allowed us different languages to communicate differently, and even allowed us the freedom to perceive of God differently. Difference is the dynamic that allows us to see the transforming benefits of Love.

So who's right about living life? Probably all of us to a certain degree; and none of us to another degree; and aggregately we are still woefully inadequate to contemplate Godliness, no matter the faith. The creation can never exceed the Creator because The Creator is always Giving. This is why we must continually practice The Habit Of Giving Love; this is what we are to learn to value while we are still here in this underworld. It can only be learned in Truth by expressing Love in Giving it.

I believe for a Heaven to be The Presence of Perfection And Wholeness Through The Continuous Giving Of Love. It is reached as a heartmindset first. I also believe this is what is meant for us to do as we transform this underworld with our lives as we give each other Love right here on earth, "...so let it be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Prayer:
Today, I'm asking each of us around the world, regardless to faith division or religion, to close our individual eyes, still our individual lips, open our individual heart, free our individual mind of images, release any individual division or hatred, and to Hear The Unified Sound of Silent Knowledge, Feel The Powerful Magnificence of The Unified Vibration of Love, Be Comforted By The Unified Correcting Voice Of God, and Give Thanks For The Presence Of God As Our Unified Creator and Continuous Provider of all that is good in us.
Let us know also that we will each be delievered from this Virtual Unreality, as have so many of our loved ones and friends before us; and yes, even as have our enemies who've gone before. Our prayer of gratitude is to help deliver Your Will that we as human becoming, learn to live In peace and love to fulfill our mission for this world. TETELESTAI.

In this humbled state of our Now Awareness, we each are prepared for our eternal havenly life. We are now also prepared for our death; and yet still are we empowered to live the remainder of our lives expressing OneAccordOfLove. This is what is meant when it is said, "Learning how to die is learning how to live. As long as you live, keep learning how to live."

This is our 411 of The Emergency Broadcasting Network For 911 Calls! It is humbly Given through our trust and Unified Collective Attempt Of A Glimpse Or GodVision for our lives through prayer.

-igman'09112011

I SEE YOU! BUT WHO CAN SEE GOD IN YOU?

2011-08-07T11:25:00.035-06:00

- igman, mysteriousvibe@yahoo.com

(mite, a small coin minted by Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judaea, 103 - 76 B.C.)

Something is troubling me about today's times; perhaps it also troubles you.

Yesterday, during the heated day, as I left the grocery store with a very few items, an old lady and a young boy in a tattered car stopped me to ask for some monetary help because they were hungry. Immediately compassion came upon me. I’m sure you’ve felt that way also. I seemed to have noticed all-at-once the old lady, the sad face of the boy, the car, the trash in the car, her eyes, the tracheotomy hole in her neck, and a heaviness of their condition. These people were members of the predominant racial group in American society, but they were also poor. Poverty knows no bounds.

I was also aware of my own diminished and limited funds, having only one $20 bill tucked away in my wallet to get me through for awhile. I told her I would go back into the store to get some change. As I loaded the items in the trunk of my car, I thought about the widow’s mite who gave all she had into the temple treasury. I thought also of my own financial troubles. The lady and the boy’s troubles were far worse than mine. I reached into my wallet and gave her my last $20. Her eyes were a blessing to my Awakened soul. As I drove away, my emotion overcame me and I wept and prayed for the poor, the down-trodden, and the hungry at the same time. I also prayed for me. So many people are hurting and hungry today, all over the world.

Yet the rich are getting richer, as indicated by the wealth gap, and the poor are getting more poor. The middle class seem aligned with the rich, though they are falling into the underclass at alarming rates. The political state is divided between the haves, the want to have but sinking, and the poor. Who is to care for the poor? What has become of our compassion, especially as Christians? I am unctioned to write the following as the outpouring of my eternal soul.

So What Would Jesus Say (WWJS) and What Would Jesus Do (WWJD) today in if He were walking the streets of America? I recall a scripture in John 21:1- where one of the manifestations of The Risen Christ said to Simon Peter three times “Feed my sheep.”

They (Christ and disciples) had sat down to dine and afterward Jesus asked him if he loved him; Peter said, he did; then Christ said “Feed my Sheep.” He went on to call special attention of making His point with Simon Peter, causing him to be irritated with a painful sorrow about Jesus stressing the point after he had answered affirmatively. Christ went on to instruct how Peter should glorify God until his death and then said “Follow me.” Why was Jesus so adamant with this line of questioning and subsequent associative conversation?

Edgar Guest sagely wrote, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” What sermons are we demonstrating from the teaching of our faith today? Faith alone is not enough. Are we following the Hupogrammos (copy; example set before one) of Christ as Christians today? What sermon are others seeing in our example?

There are many who would discuss to no end that Christ was speaking about feeding God’s Word to His followers in the aforementioned scripture reference. Yet He had no sooner fed them with food than He began to discuss loving Him, feeding His sheep, and glorifying God. The Risen Christ we know and love is constantly speaking about “the plight of the poor” and always showed His concern to physically feeding the masses as he preached and taught. Wasn’t He feeding them with The Word as He fed them with loaves of bread and a few fishes back then? Why didn’t He leave well-enough alone, since He had already spiritually fed them? Because He knew it wasn’t enough if their bellies were empty and they hungered.

I suggest He knew of the difficulty of concentrating on spiritual matter and doing or practicing The Word of God when their minds are focused on their hunger. I tell you today, in America and around the world, people are hungry; even starving; yet are we as concerned about them as Christ is about them? Are we giving them words alone and not feeding them? Are we sounding our voices, lifting them up to God without corresponding actions of faith made visible? This is how faith works through us.

Did you see the blockbuster movie Avatar? In it the phrase "I see you" was said by the character Neytiri to Jake. And have you heard Indie Arie sing the song "I See God In You?" They each allude to “seeing love” visibly as an insight of true knowledge awareness; "seeing truth reality" beyond the artificial outward appearance and into the inward awareness of what is beyond form and pure of any appearance of personage between them; "God in you and God in me greet each other." The perception of our Godly character demonstration is seen by what the perceiver sees us actively doing or actively reflecting.

It is a reference to and a term of endearment of The Divine Reflection Of God that we call The Light Of God in us. This is the very same Light that Lighted Christ. I've learned to refer to it as ChristVision: "Seeing as Empowered through The Light of Love; Enlightenment."

Are we not to be The Divine Reflection Of God through Christ Jesus, reflected through us? If so, then what are we reflecting today as we face difficult economic times and great despair across the land? What is the body of Christ, the ecumenical Christian body which is called The Christian Church doing today for the plight of the increasing poor among us? Of course, many are doing what Christ directed us to do, not only through our churches but through our daily activity.

What has happen to our Christian faith beyond our churches? How silent has its’ activity become amongst the people? Are the sheep being fed only in the pews of the massive temples of today, leaving it there and not set free amongst the people to bear fruit to feed the belly as well as the spirit? What kind of faith is that which does not bear the fruit of faith as well as the fruit of the horn of plenty?

Certainly not the fruit of faith of Christ that lives in our heartmind and the heartmind of many, many others throughout the land. Has it (our faith) been hijacked through some narrowly defined context that extracts our heart, leaving only our head to manifest Christ in us? What is our mission as Christians today? What have we become in this land of plenty? Oh what a hollow faith this is becoming as we are misled away from our mission to be concerned with the plight of the increasing poor?

Our politics in America today wreaks of ineffective governing bodies that narrowly define and confine our elected representatives to pledges made for some ideological cause, rendering the politician a hostage of that pledge and to constituents who'd rather see our government fail, than exercise democratic principles to compromise for the common good. It was just a short time ago that these voters called themselves patriots and adopted the "Tea Party" metaphor to represent them. But they are no patriots and I don't know if they truly understand our Constitution. Pledge? I know but one pledge for an American - The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, of The United States of America. Now who truly expresses the actions of Benedict Arnold? I believe history called him a traitor.

And what do we make of calling ourselves “the Christian Fiscal Conservative Right or the Christian Social Conservative Right?” Would Jesus be called “conservative anything” as He demonstrated The Gospel of The Good News? Jesus preached and taught a profoundly social gospel that had not been taught prior to his ministry; it was for the benefit of the poor amongst us. This was His yoke. He demonstrated many examples of how the rich could also follow Him; by sharing and caring for the poor.

Are we seeing the lack of works of the faith today that James spoke of as he clearly instructed, saying faith alone is not enough, and that we should visibly see our faith through our works. That is how God is seen in us; not welled up inside us; not en masse but in action beyond words.

What are we to make of Christians who gather with politicians today, calling themselves and others to prayer and worshiping in stadiums, drawing attention to themselves? Does God have need to see them en masse, or does God hear better when we are gathered in public assembly and amplify our prayer, or does God see and hear evenly beyond the shout of the stadium and into squalor of the darkest room? I suggest these people who do this, separating themselves beyond faith to faith, are misled by conspicuous tongues and the wiles of perverse thought, causing them to truly become the “Christian Conservative gone WRONG.”

“Feed My Sheep” said The Master.” He was also The Master Rhetorician. I believe He meant literally as well as figuratively about feeding His Sheep. And He also had something to say in Matthew 6: 5-6 about worshipers who demonstrate their faith for the public to see:

When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Who are these people who call themselves Christian? And who is teaching them this profane doctrine of the fringe? Jesus warned us of them and about the future in Matthew 7:15 saying,

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Buddhists acknowledge one another today as they say, Namaste' - God in me greets God in you. Does that not reflect a beautiful thought expression between people? Would that not then reflect heaven on earth if we were to see ourselves like that and to live like that? Is this perspective limited to Buddhists or Christians alone? I think not.

So what do we do when we seek to gain Divine Reflective Knowledge? I'd like to postulate placing our mind on Godliness and the Compassion of Christ Jesus, without thought of form or specific discipline. It sort of allows us to seek a void mind, free of personal and impersonal influence. Though this is at first very difficult to achieve, primarily because we are imbued with so many influential imaginative images, it is well worth the effort to be free in thought and open Revelation. We then allow the freedom of the contemplative state of mind for whatever we desire of Our Heavenly Father. I call this prayer; don’t you?

In faith, the state of contemplative awareness is the human attempt to understand God and the sacred knowledge [through sudden insight of Knowingness]; then later to humanly attempt to explain the interpretations of visions of God's activities as God would have us do. It could be called a theurgy; a tapping of the divine power that enables us to briefly ascend to GodAwareness or GodPresence. God works through God’s People. We are to become the workers of God’s Activity in the earth. Isn’t that what Christ Jesus was saying to us as His Followers? “Come, Follow me.”

Theurgy means divine intervention into human affairs. It is a method to stop us from thinking; to leave behind us all of our conceptions of the divine in order to experience the Divine. God has showed The Divine Example through many manifestations of Truth from faith to faith in how we should express love to God and to OneAnother, by seeking God and doing as God’s Example did. Christ is The Example for those of us who are called by the name of Christian.

Following Christ can lead to "the Awakening of the Eternal Soul in each of us." We are awakened for the purpose of “doing as the Rabbi was doing as he called us to,” Feed My Sheep." Christians? You will know them by their Love.

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"I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day."

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day;

I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.

The eye is a better pupil, more willing than the ear;

Fine counsel is confusing, but example is always clear,

And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,

For to see a good put in action is what everybody needs.

I can soon learn how to do it if you will let me see it done;
I can watch your hand in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lesson by observing what you do.
For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give,
But there is no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind.
When a weaker brother stumbles, and a strong man stands behind
Just to see if he can help him, then the wish grows strong in me
To become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be.
And all travelers can witness that the best of guides today
Is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.

One good man teaches many; men believe what they behold;

One deed of kindness noted is worth forty that are told.

Who stands with men of honor learns to hold his honor dear,

For right living speaks a language which to everyone is clear.

Though an able speaker charms me with his eloquence, I say,

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day.

poetry of Edgar A. Guest

THIS PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

2011-05-21T08:24:00.032-06:00

THE MYSTERIOUS DUTY OF SILENCE

Silence speaks its sad duty to the lonely;
Its’ soft voice heard hauntingly loud.
Often does it whisper to the leper,
Whose worth is deemed as merely the untouchable.
Slowly, sadly, mystically, cogently,
It speaks also to the poet and the philosopher -
Mostly the stained scarlet lettered ones -
Each themselves now made curious listeners
Of silence' torture upon their soul.
It speaks to them of hurt -
Healing’ attempt to heal itself.
It speaks to them of dreams’ loss and pain,
As tho’ nothing but temporal wisps of smokes’ past.
It speaks to them of indescribable beauty,
As tho’ once known seems now gone;
Yet can never be left.
It speaks to them in dialog,
Having found its’ origin in what seemed monologue -
Awaiting their response -
It speaks to them of receiving the knowledge of giving
Which is Love’s only state,
Rather than the prevailing giving of knowledge without receiving;
For can a man masterfully use that which he does not rightfully contain.
Yea Love received is the first Gift of Love Life.
It speaks to them of the experience of loving,
Which inherently and inseparately also requisites receiving,
Which is love’s only fate.
It speaks to them of Truth’ Presence
Bearing Witness of Itself.
It speaks to them of Creation out of nothing – creatio ex nihilo.
And the poet and the philosopher and the leper knows;
Out of nothing emerges Everything as One.
Beyond the touch is Everything Eternal;
Resolutely, the voice of silence calls;
Gently is its manner - Caelvm non animvn
For those who attempt to cross its changing sea
Change is only the awareness of the sky reflecting;
Not reference to their unchangeable Spirit force;
It can not change.
Mvtant qvi trans mare cvrrvnt ignoti nvlla cvpido.
No desire can exist for a thing unknown,
What is it that I desire to know?
Is desire increased through knowledge gained?
Does knowledge emerge from the depths of sorrow and despair?
Ecce homo ipso facto – Behold the man by the fact itself.
Noli me tangere – Touch me not
For left atwixt this bewitching stone of silence,
Does this fettered pen again bemoan the fate of the lonely –
Again new vision summons me -
The poet, the philosopher, and the leper.
- igman’042510

THE VISION OF THE MYSTIC' STARE

2011-05-21T08:01:00.018-06:00

In the shadow world of yesterday's tomorrow, I glare into the nowhere of timeless infinity of a moment's notice, taken in a glance upon the passing composition of future's feature of me; constructed today.

Today is the only possibility to contrast and construct the future idea expression of me and give meaning to the expression. But what is this shadow that comes with me? I didn't express it.  Can you see the purpose or worth of the shadow and its' odd behavior which doesn't obey me; though it does appear, it doesn't exist?

No shadow can be real and what is not real cannot be true. Here is the observation of this untrue distorted reflection of the bodily expression of the idea of me, which passes along in time of its own volition; much like the shadow.  Why then am I given another opportunity for yet another attempt in this perpetuity of sorrow's madness, to peek, poke, yack, and thwack about upon the expression of the idea of me?

What's that you say of me? Why spend your time regarding the expression of me instead of the expression of you?  Does your dissatisfaction with you give cause to seek some effect upon me? You're keeping it real and getting me told; what does that mean? Is there a worth to that for you?  Does it help you feel better about yourself......that seems so odd, doesn't it? Oh whatever......let me get back to the shadow world.......if this is real, I need to get unreal.......bummer....

"Hello", I say once again, to the brief delight of meeting the gladness of strangers at the bar; they themselves exploring the intellective mentation of their own shadows...... hmmm.....very interesting thoughtform.....

igman

Lost Beyond The Shadow

I stare,
Yeah.
From the window of despair
A distortion of the true
Trapped
Alone.
No course to bear –
Just there
What image is this I see?
A man – longing free
Bound and bothered
To carry me
To places I can never know
Nowhere to go –
So
On I show
Wandering ..
Wondering…
Wishing to shout
No!
Not this way!
If I could only say –
Today.
But now…
My time again has come
To fear the setting sun
Unable to run…
Again.
Lost beyond the shadow.

A WALK IN QUEST FOR TRUTH TO APPLY ITS KNOWLEDGE

2010-11-16T19:11:00.052-07:00

THE POWERHOUSE HILL NEWSLETTER

Brother, Can't You Hear Me?

A WALK IN TRUTH – Brother Walk With Me

The Light of Spiritual Truth expresses itself in many forms
but emerges only from ONESOURCE.
-igman

- But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

The leaf is an evidenced fact symbol of growth probability having taken place.

Awaking Sunday morning, I proceeded to keep a commitment I’d made to a friend who is also a relative, to read the Epistle of Jude as a follow up to an extended conversation regarding truth. Having done so I contemplated its content and attempted to reason the purpose of the elected calling to read it. Reminding myself of proper contextualization back to our previous conversations and its multitude of topics, I especially recalled my comments regarding interpretation of Scripture and the resulting context upon its many writings about sin, which I have come to regard as error. I remember the contentiousness of the points of view between our two perspectives and our subsequent perceptions.

We are all babes in God’s Word. Interpretations can lead both to better understanding just as well as they can lead to inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and sometimes illogical and baneful
imprisonments of the mind and heart. By examining the Scriptures of the Bible and the events of record and how it was written and compiled, it is possible to come up with a method of interpretation that is sensible and understandable. I truly believe there are a plethora of unlimited understandings of Jesus as The Living Word and The Scriptures and the Knowledge within them. There is also knowledge beyond them.

I see these as manifestations of different forms but of One Truth to which they speak. I also trust there are other resources of Knowledge that are not codified in the Bible. In stating this, I am only saying that the legislative cleric bodies of learned men who gathered together for this great cause, certainly performed admirably, but not perfectly. Agreement is not perfection. We can easily recognize and attest to their accomplishment resulting in the Bible and its longevity amongst us. I would not and am not attempting to bring any dishonor to the Bible, as if it were possible I could do so. A man can bring dishonor to himself. The Bible is the cornerstone of my foundation providing ongoing revelation of truth in my experience. What else can we attest to honestly if not by our experience upon the subject matter?

I have found the lack of a sincere conversation about ones own personal experiences of "walking in the faith" to be problematic. I hear more religious dogma, seemingly without giving personal examination upon the thought of what is being prescribed. It sounds proselytized, ritualistic, and void of one's own personal journey toward the presence of truth.

Is it not the Knowledge of God and His Purposed Will for us to love one another, which we each seek to find and implement in life? Is this not The Walk of The Way and Its Lighted Path for us, and that same Light be in us and we in It? Is this not what Christ Called us to do as we allow our Light to shine?

This brief treatise is an opportunity for an examination; an opportunity for simple discourse with the purpose of illumination and enlightenment for unity and harmony; not one meant to indoctrinate, inculcate, imbue, or separate us into confusion and away from our common love which is our common cause.

Each of us have drawn non-common conclusions, though in the final analysis, I don’t believe they cause separation from our common call to Love The Lord Thy God; to Love His Son; and to Love one another. We are all attempting to better understand GodCommunication to each of us. We are born alone and we will die alone. Each of our life experiences are different. Who among us can deny what your experiences are? I believe we interpret GodCommunication as we experience our individual lives.

As a dependent child, my Christian religious experiences were taught to me, and very little dealt with my life-circumstances as an African American living a vicarious life dominated by a hegemonic society and its use of information, symbols, and rituals upon me. I knew little about my own humanity or the humanity of those who looked like me. Through some form of unconscious focus that I cannot truly explain even today, I began to experience a physical discomfort between what I was taught and the contradiction of what I was experiencing in personhood. As for questions – they were given little regard. Reverence reigned over reason and understanding, even though the very scriptures stated the people of the Bible were destroyed fo r a lack of knowledge, and without vision the people perished, and for all you gain, gain understanding.

My mother had always touted education as a means to lift her children from our current condition to a better future, but the doctrine of my religious upbringing seemed to guide me and guard me to doubt what I would become exposed to in “the world.” As my education proceeded, I could not forever ignore this obvious contradiction for discourse.

As an independent adult, I had the obligation to my belief of faith, to attempt to live it out in order to discover its relative truth. To live it out, I had to attempt to use my belief as faith. And in order to live it out, I could not simply ignore my experience filter, which is the lens through which I glimpse and engage life. I decided that I could not and would not ignore the inhumanity of the exploitation of Africans and the prodigious practice of slavery of my ancestors, who were subsequently called African American people. How could I call this right or righteousness? What type of insanity must I assume in order to accept this crime against humanity? Was I angry? Sure I was. But anger is not enlightenment. Knowledge is the key to the relief from ignorance that held me bound. Something was wrong and I had to explore evidence in order to become a free-thinking member of humanity. Perhaps you too, whether African American or otherwise, have this internal conflict that must become manifest and dealt with in your life.

As a mature adult, I've found revelation through knowledge, which either affirmed the ethos of some of the teachings, as well as revelations that conflicted or even confirmed the error or deception of some of the teachings. A great deal of the teachings were found to be the perpetuation of ignorance due to the lack of research and scholarship. Discovering what I truly believed became as important to me as living my life. In this sense, I gradually discovered the "authentic me."
The intentional purpose of this assertive work is specifically to call attention to the importance of recognizing our own limited perspectives upon a subject and its trailing limited perceptions which become our own perceptions as we accept them. They are introduced and fortified in us through our focus upon them.

If we accept information as knowledge without scrutiny, we close ourselves to first impressions possibly becoming lasting impressions, which are very difficult to alter. Rather than relying upon prevailing perceptions, which don’t always stand in The Light of Truth, we can continue in our study to understand for today how we can better live now in this world for the same cause as the early brethren to Jesus’ Teachings of yesterday. We don’t have to attempt to make today the yesterday of two-thousand years ago, as if nothing has come into The Light. Yesterday, men were seeking truth and today men are seeking truth. The truth we seek is inside us and not outside of us. It is what we are made of and our Essence. It is not truth alone that we seek, but Revelation of Truth, which is Its Treasure. In truth, we are Empowered. In truth we are delivered beyond the evolution of our myth to the Revelation of Truth, where we learn to live in harmony with God and each other. Regardless to our lack of knowledge of It (truth), nothing can separate us from the Love of God.

The Bible is an historical book of personages in history. If we are concerned with truth of interpretation, we must understand its historical background and context. Words are vessels or containers of meaning. The words over time have gained somewhat of a life of their own as they have been conveyed. As they are translated into different languages from their original Ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic expression, context changes through interpretation are happenstance upon the customs and traditions of the languages. It is a necessary rigor that they are translated as closely to their original intention, in order to understand to what they allude.

Sometimes errors were inadvertent; other times not so.

I mention the following for clarity sake and am by no means justified by research and scholarship. But reason must be grounded in some rigorous work and not narrowly defined but broadly researched and contemplated. Faith alone is not enough. Study alone is not enough. And interpretation alone and out of context is not enough.

Having personally studied many historical texts and books written by well scrutinized authors, works, such as The History of God – The 4000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam written by Karen Armstrong; The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good About The Good News by Peter Gomes; The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer; The Lost Language of God by Greg Braden; Ask and it is Given by Abraham, Ester and Jerry Hicks; The Secret by Rhonda Byrne; and studied The Buddha’s Teachings; and several others too numerous to mention.

Along with and these, and certainly not least of these is the Bible and its narratives and histories, as well as having experienced several non-credit online course studies of seminary topics, I feel confident stating that religion in general and Christianity in particular, is rife with numerous interpretations about who God is, how to approach God, and “right-thinking and right-practice” of the faith, that in truth, continually change with the social needs of the people over time, whether they be Jew, Christian, or Muslim. Our purpose is to serve God’s Will and His Will for us is to Love and serve His People.

I would truly like to discuss without zeal and passionate, emotion-laced rhetoric, the diversity of thought pre-dating Greek Hellenism and Roman paganism as the foundation of Judaism evolved and a branch morphed into a religion called Christianity. The Christian faith we know today evolved through a host of assaults upon it by the aforementioned empires, as well as others like the Islamists, the Ottomans; and even schism assaults from within itself (The Western Church versus Greek Orthodox Church; The Catholic Church versus The Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther/John Calvin), The Christian (Colored) Methodist Episcopal (CME) and the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and so on.

Clearly, there were vastly different conversations about how to best “know God and approach God with each calling itself Christian.” There is no wonder Christians are confused and even somewhat lost; confused by men and their own conundrums (confusion and difficult) that cause conniption (fits of anger) and intolerance and lack of open understanding and failure to act as Christ truly taught. We are our brother’s keeper as our brother is our keeper and that is the truth we know.

Thank God for God’s Spiritual Reality; It is All There Is; Standing Still as One Truth awaiting us to Its Revelation. Thank God for Jesus, The Christ and His Ministry and Teachings. Thank God for His Holy Spirit Whom Is His Voice to us that we may Know Truth and be made free from this confusion. Words can be altered but Spiritual Reality is All There Is. The physical etching of a word attempting to convey knowledge, cannot change the Spiritual Reality of Truth Of God’s Word Which Is Knowledge.

But I digress - Jude primarily warns about false teachers and false teachings. Specifically, its content is calling into question Gnostic teachings of Early Christianity which favorably regarded freedom and liberty as paramount. I have no intention of addressing Gnosticism and its teachings. Nor is it my intention to proselytize anything but that which is unctioned me of the Holy Spirit. In Jude, I am unctioned of apologetics, commonly known as defending the faith.

Jude continually exhorts the brethren to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints; and to remind the ungodly and the contestants of truth of their impending judgment. He is speaking toward lasciviousness and warning about denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks about hard speech of the ungodly and the swelling words of men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. (Jude 1)

This truly causes confusion in me. Lasciviousness means lustful and has a somewhat sexual connotation. It intimates actions and thoughts without restraint; I suppose also in speech. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s quotation comes to mind: "....The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during times of conflict and controversy." Of course this is a bit of overstatement about the contentiousness of either of our points of view, but it truly came to my mind and I don’t believe it can be stated too often, so permit me this transgression.

I speak honestly about my conviction as I serve Christ. That is all. If I do so with reference to historical knowledge, it is through a desire to increase awareness in the search for knowledge of truth and not self-serving beyond that.

I have grown spiritually, learning to seek better understanding without judgment, rather than to accept emotional rancor of unbridled passion and intuitions that the mind can manifest and therein possibly incarcerate us. I will trust in Divine Revelation and Illumination and continue this journey of truth’s intent – for truth has purpose for us and I trust in its cause and effect.

Many times, our preconceptions or preconceived notions do not allow us to adequately examine the foundational aspects and perspectives that causes the perception’s content, and therein its default thought action. We sometimes begin to defend long-held thoughts which become beliefs of acceptance in practice of habit called axiomatic actions, independent of truth and necessary scrutiny of examination. Our obligation to our beliefs is to discover its truths or untruths.

Now if we abandon the search of truth, seeking support of our stalwart position upon truth, have we not then already “established our truth” and are looking for support of our position that agrees with our interpretation? I don’t know if this is correct or not, but I trust in the opportunity that we each must examine ourselves and our understandings in The Light of the Holy Spirit and It will bring us into understanding, acknowledgement, and/or Correction.

Certainly I am not the author of truth and make no claim to it. I do however know of The Spirit of Truth of Whom I speak; and I do know I am not special to gain The Knowledge. Holy Spirit speaks to us In Truth as The Voice For God; I trust The Understanding, The Correction, and The Unifying Counsel. The Voice For God will not say one thing to me and another thing to you that is meant for our private interpretation.

So how do we then acquire these prevailing preconceptions, misconceptions, and conniptions; why are we so strongly succumbed to defend them without examination and Guidance from the Holy Spirit?

Are we not each seekers of truth and therein Illumination of Its Light? Are we not each Called to our brother’s aid, into Illumination of God’s Light and away and out from the shadow of darkness? Does not the loving Psalm speak to walking through death’s shadow without fearing evil because of Whom we walk with?

When God’s Light has Illuminated our lives through His Truth, who in his right mind would prefer the shadow of darkness, remaining the same? Can we not best serve our brother in The Light of Truth? Can we not walk toward the darkness and it must flee when we are so Lighted? Can this little light of mine shine? I say to you that you we have no little light at all; we walk in The Light and The Light Must Shine, even as It Shines In us.

Can we of good faith, not work in good faith of one accord, though we work in different manifestations of the faith, without zealotry toward one another? Is not His Word His Truth; and is not His Word in Christ; and is not His Word in you and me? Can we not allow each other’s manifestation to be Truth Standing, as we each learn to walk in The Spirit and Freedom Of His Light and His Word and Its Knowledge, avoiding the shadow world of darkness and its attack from its illusions of perversion?

Yes, Truth defends itself and stands firm against any attack. It never attacks because there is no need and nowhere else to go except to Its Light. It is Reality. Truth stands awaiting you and me to Its Reality. It is manifestation of God’s Love. Even a lie is dependent upon truth. It needs truth in order to pervert it; without truth a lie is nothing at all. Can you then see if a lie is so dependent, how much more so are we who seek truth dependent on its revelation?

Now I can’t prove this to you or any other, since truth was not “proven” to me. I do accept and rest assured the condition for truth as I walk in the awareness of its Presence and Illumination of life experience. Anything other than truth is a perversion of truth and perverted truth is a lie. Again I say, I am not the author of truth for clarity sake.

The perversion of truth is the only presence a lie can have and no perversion of truth can become Reality of Truth. This is God’s Law. A perversion of truth is an illusion of thought manifestation. This is what I have learned over time, having Correction, both as an ignorant and unwitting liar, as well as a witting liar when I have chosen to pervert truth as false defense for some offense.

Today, I thank God for His Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit Within me and Within you, Who Calls our attention to truth through Gentle Correction of our errors. The desire for us is to bring us into remembrance of God and Godliness, which is Righteousness and Right Relationship, wherein is The Good News of our Salvation made Manifest. In our Christian tradition, Christ Jesus is our Messiah as The Son of God. His teachings tell us we are all sons and daughters of God and are so obligated to Love God and Love OneAnother.

Having expressed my thoughts upon Jude, I explored the Epistles of 1 John 1, 2, and 3. Here is what I’d like to express regarding truth and the subject of sin or error: For what cause do we speak so contumely of condemnation’s cause and of sin’s indictment, each of them rooted in fear; rather than speak to the freedom of salvation, rooted in God’s Unending and Uninterruptible Love? Is not salvation that which is able to keep us from falling? Is not He who brings The Good News of Salvation to us, not Jesus, The Christ, The Living Word, The Anointed One of whom was prophesied by the prophets of old in The Holy Scriptures?

Is not then salvation meaning Right and Righteous Holy Relationship With God The Father, God The Son, God The Holy Spirit, for Which The Purpose of Salvation – you and I and all our brothers – to Redeem God’s Sons to this Holy Relationship of Love and Joyousness?

Who then would knowingly argue against this Call? What do I say as an accepted helper that does not provide help to my brothersamongst us to The Call Home of Right Relationship? What do I say that does other than point to our thinking as cause for erroneous thought action and subsequent effects of that thought which must take place? What do I say that does not direct my brother to the Holy Spirit for Correction?

As I continuously learn and state by the perspective gained through much study as well as the teachings of “A Course in Miracles” to which I myself am a miracle of ChristVision and transformation; I am only a simple frame who does not attempt to frame himself in glory, but rather to frame He Who Is Worthy, the Holy Spirit as the content of my frame and I know Him not except through visible Christ who walked the earth. And Who Is He That does not attempt to bring Glory to Himself but is The Frame of Christ - The Holy Spirit? And Who Is Christ That does not seek to Glorify Himself, but is The Glorious Frame for God, Who Is The One Content of All Our Frames? In Holy Reunion and Reconciled with THE FATHER, We Are One. The purpose of the frame is to focus on its Content.

Is not then salvation is come to us as we Rightly-See Truth in Christ to Love God and God to Love us? Is this not The Good News of Salvation? Can you now see through Heaven’s Eyes how beautiful this Holy Righteous Reunion is to The Father? Is it not desirous to you also?

Scripture states that The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil…..What then are these works of the devil if they be not in the incarcerated mind and the lies, perversions, illusions and confusions toward truth that keep it bound from freedom and Love? Are they themselves not the shadow scaffolds of unrighteousness that uphold illusion and non-reality? Has not death been shown to be ultimate illusion which has no power over us as Christ has revealed in His Resurrection? God demands no sacrifice, as He tells us in Micah 6:1 - 7 which you can read for yourselves. He goes on to say, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin; because he is born of God. (1John 3:1-3)

As we are enabled to See and Walk In Light of This Truth through ChristVision, and In Light of the Holy Spirit’s Correction, we are then Empowered to help our brothers find the Way Home, unshackled from the heavy burden of sin upon his mind and his consequence.

Hear The Master's voice as he calls, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. – Matthew 11:2

The Master calls our souls home to Godliness, which Is Truth and Love. I have learned that these formative foundations are not things or places; you cannot touch them, however they can and must touch you if you are to be reconciled to them. They are OneSame and inseparable and inorder; they are our birthright, our condition, and our Eternal Destiny.

ONELOVE.
igman’071110

Serving a Higher Calling - An Appeal to Examine Oneself

2010-06-21T06:40:00.035-06:00

A reply to a reader: Service to a Higher Calling

Sorry I missed your email from Feb. 22, 2010. I’ve been in hiding, considering all the “gun-toting” and talk of “watering the tree of liberty” going around these days, but thanks for your reply. I do acknowledge my own personal use of the same teleprompter (writing-in-hand) that Mrs. Palin used at the Tea Party convention in Nashville. I can also use note cards and a real teleprompter, which I will use in front of larger audiences as my voice gets heard. I suppose that since you draw analogy to this form of calligraphyy, you are by extenton stating this equally qualifies me to run for Vice-President or even President. Now you know the true reason I had to leave Diaxxxd….yeah, that’s the ticket…..

(you can click cartoons for better viewing, permission granted of xlcd.com)*

For the sake of clarity, allow me to say that I do not dislike Ms. Palin. I am amused by her. I must admit that I detest her ignorance on issues that should matter to the electorate, as well as her election to use “absurdity and ignorance of politics for convenience” to incite her ill-informed and somewhat perculiar constituency. This is made most evident in your own allusion of a “Birther mentality.” Now I am not calling you ignorant, but there are times when your actions suggest a lack of knowledge use. What good is knowledge if one doesn't use it as a tool for improvement or efficiency?

I suspect you feel you can elicit some form of reaction in my personal countenance; not so. I’m not in the “edutainment” business but the “education information knowledge” business. So, as you can observe, I have capitalized and underlined Birther because it has risen from the level of ignorace, to the higher elevation of premium stupidity; beyond illumination or enlightenment and deserves formal recognition as "Group-think," quoting George Orwell.
I am prone to see this group-think Birther mentality rightly, not as elevation from ignorance, but truly as human devolution from evolution of the specie within the social strata. This thinking was not built upon logic or fact of truth; in fact, truth is the last thing these group-thinkers want to see. The fact is, they will deny even the fact of truth, because it is unnecessary for their thinking. Their purpose is to pervert truth, though they are not conscious of their purposeful intent. Group-think is a bewieldering bitchwitch.

Social psychologist Irving Janis defined groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." Due to the progressive nature of my perspective, I'll liberally assume that you have the ability to formulate your own thought. I wish Gov. Palin could do the same that I may adequately apportion her position. Beyond that, I defend her right to make her mark, which so far seems justified a "X" , as was afforded others in the past who were unable to write their name or record their thoughts on paper. I defend her right to write in her hand and to make her mark. She can do each whole-heartedly with my blessing.

I do still hope Mrs. Palin will learn to use a technologically-developed teleprompter. That way, I can focus on her message or plan if there is one, and not the messenger. I know a good number of people who are against everything but couldn't come up with a single, well-thought out plan beyond "no, I'm not for that." This way, they don't have to take responsibility for their own thoughts. And can you really imagine discussing “green-technology, the United States’ economy, national healthcare, TARP, unemployment complexity, or education reform” while holding a personal aversion to teleprompters and other conventional communication tools? Isn’t tweeting (Twitter use) the use of a technology tool?

If so, what then is acceptable about using it as a communication tool as opposed to using a technologically-advanced teleprompter as a facilitating communication tool, when one does not desire to speak “from-the-top-of-the-head”; rather instead to speak from the “well of a body of knowledge” acquired over a life-time? This methodology infers a reflective moment taken rather than a reactive “jerk –of-the-knee” approach. Would you not agree? If you argue for your limitations, they become truly yours.

As for President Obama, I believe the people who dislike him do so for good reason - such as his intellect, his education, his ability to articulate coherent positions regarding the complexity of a problem, his approach toward development of long-term solutions to long-term problems with far-reaching consequences; his knowledge that “No” is not a strategy; his willingness to admit to his own mistakes as well as mistakes we’ve made as a nation; his appeal for reason over rage to prevail; as well as his generally regarded good looks, etc.

I somehow seem to have mistaken these as attributes of character; having succumb to the idea that they should become highly-sought gems. I too face many of the same obstacles he faces in the attempt to serve others through educational discourse.☺ I too choose to not go through an exercise of illogical exposition by displaying my own birth certificate; doing so would reveal myself to be the reincarnation of King Tutankhamen or some other seemly apparition, causing a disqualification to run for President.

So seriously now, if you elect to gather your faculties about you. I really do care about people and the problems we face as a nation as well as a global citizen of the world. The President does and so should you.

Permit me inquiry: Is a man or a woman happy if they are honorable and good, but miserable if they are vicious and wicked? Do you believe personal decisions lead one into things that are honorable and good as well as things that are vicious and wicked? Do you think it good when a man devoid of wisdom does what seems best to him? Is it important in our discussion notions of doing ‘right’ and ‘good’ which assume as altruism in the doer, divorced from personal advantage? Isn’t the aim to help people get better?

If we know what the real ends of the activities are – the right and the good – why then should we concern ourselves with anything beyond the confined realm of the arena of truth? Outside this realm is the arena of the ignorant. An ignorant person is more convincing than the expert, only before an equally ignorant audience; therefore, seek knowledge.

The aim I elicit is not personal gratification or pleasure, or even to reveal aischune (shame, loss of face). I declare each to be dishonorable “knacks” or “cookery.”** Any conversation such as ours’ should never bypass the all-important elenchus of the soul (scrutiny; examination). Let us always elect to be concerned with moral absolutes such as justice and goodness.

As we emerge from the classroom and into the public arena, our conventional nature should be toward the common good for society at large and Americans in particular. So then, let us concern ourselves with altruism based on hopeful experience (Gk: empeiria) and how it can work best to promote common good. Eristically, the aim would be to win. Heuristically, the aim is to discover the best possible answer; truth. A discursive arrangement enables us to proceed to a conclusion by reason or agreement rather than intuition.

I do remember a certain carpenter who had similar scandalous concerns regarding the well-being of others he called brethren. As he spread the scandalous good news of compassion as given to him by his Father, he similarly evoked much of the same type of rage in some; mostly the religious establishment or said another way, “the status quo.”. Strangely, he was not called a communist, socialist, or the like, but he did so to his own peril. “It would seem, we can’t stand too much of that “Good News.”*** The good news has a way of making one look at himself; or as the Greeks said, “Examine thyself.”

I do so love to debate relevant issues; but I love better to formulate “solutions to relevant problems.” One must understand the nature of a problem before he is to begin a solution for it. As there are many we face, I believe the largest problem is inherently within the people themselves to whom the solutions are presented. I don’t believe they desire to understand that or any problem, because it will reflect their own lack of responsibility for their own “lack of understanding - leaving them in a conundrum, resulting in conniption, and often in some form of despair.

You may recall an edition of POWERHOUSE HILL stating, “The power of your perception is limited to the perspective from which you observe; change your perspective and you will begin a change in your perception.”

I believe education is one tool that helps to improve the ability of a citizen to discern issues beyond his or her own “gut-feelings.” Perhaps that’s why so many parents work hard to send their children to college – to become better educated, which should in turn produce a better life circumstance. More often than not, this educational process produces an intellectual gulf between the child and the parent in the end. This is not to say that respect for the parent is lost; but it is to recognize that there is a difference in perception because there is a difference in perspective and this adds to a lack of things held in common, that can lead to close association and in some cases to dissociation. The educated child’s world is expanded beyond himself and is larger in scope; a larger worldview promotes inclusion of more as a perception discourse, speaking frankly. Would you not agree?

However education alone is not the answer. There is some other requirement. I have met many a man or woman who has received an education, but has been sadly left in a state of peril and personal morass; possibly due to not having exercised courage to utilize the knowledge, risking critique by others, to ultimately formulate a personal philosophy in which to act; having honed it out through Paideia (Education or Instruction), Psyche (Mind), Logos (Reason), Sophia (Wisdom), Theoria (Contemplation), and Ousia (Essence). Paideia begins with an ideal and not with an individual.

It is ultimately the requirement of a filtration process called the morality of value; hence moral value. Moral values advance higher calling for the common good. It is “the conformity to ideals of right human conduct that aids men to rise above his own condition and become concerned with the condition and well-being of mankind.” This is how we advance the Oikumene (Greek: the civilized world).

I hope you’ll forgive my use of Greek and/or Latin inference; for as a Western-developed society, it seems fundamentally tantamount to understand Western-developed thought-systems for solutions to Western-developed thought-problems that we are left to overcome. Again, it is my belief that the problem with men or mankind is in each their own ability to think critically for themselves using awareness beyond that which is prevalent within ones group; or as said in Latin Vulgate – common. Look around your next group discussion. Poll your group to its education level. I think you’ll get my drift. Maybe not.

Additionally, I believe the resource of reading for knowledge to be more fundamentally utilitarian toward educational development than visual knowledge, as one seeks to develop their intellect for self-improvement. Scientist today have proven that reading “grows the brain capacity,” utilizing dendrite connectivity for longer-term memory usage. It formulates an efficient pathway for reasoning. I believe that which can be reduced to simplicity, having undergone the critical review of complexity-removal, leads to enlightenment.

Simply stated – when one reads, he is consciously active in the translational process from words to mental images, leading to active awareness of what is being recorded on his “hard drive memory.” Let’s call this process “the rigor of reading.” Though rigor is commonly made analogous to “work”, it is more accurately identified as “a discipline; a condition that makes life more difficult, more challenging, and uncomfortable.” In the uncomfortable situation or rigor, one can find wisdom – much as a person who is gardening and suddenly finds himself contemplating the deeper and broader issues of life. Should he remain open to his temporary state of awareness and put it to work in his life, he can gain wisdom. I use the gardening analogy in the unlikely event that you may think I am saying education comes only from formalized institutions. I am not. Education is a construction process of many disciplines.

The playground for knowledge acquired is in our life experience. This is the only place where results are made visible. You’ve often heard me say in times past, “knowledge alone has no value.” It must be understood by utility in life-experience, where it can be refined, criticized, and reconciled to gain wisdom. So few utilize knowledge in life-experience as fore-thought or forward-thinking, so it is easily understandable that so many resist and may even revile it or more directly - the messenger of it. Again, think of the carpenter and his message previously mentioned. The attack is made to the messenger in the belief that if one silences the messenger, the message is silenced. History dispels this myth. The message of the messenger lives on because “truth is forever on the scaffold as evil is forever on the throne of this world.” This quote alludes that truth is the structured frame-work of reality, which is the true world; but man has made evil or untruth as the ruler on the throne in this world. The carpenter is our example of love expressed as compassion toward one another. It is the only criterion in which living an examined life is made a necessity. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. – Ecclesiastes 1:18 The sorrow of this passage is the rigorous requirement to continue.

Therefore, if ones mission is to be merely informed rather than educated without ultimately being enlightened as an end result, then it’s easy to see why one turns to the medium that requires the least amount of effort and scholarship (rigor), not giving much if any thought to moving beyond the convenience of the teleport to enlist deeper and more lucid understandings to the discovery process. Then, having equipped oneself with more tools, formulate a personal philosophy through which to live. This step is not only making the information relevant but more importantly, making a relevant experience to a relevant personage. This is when we can best benefit the brotherhood of mankind.

Keep in mind, visual images are formulated consciously by the transmitter of the images (Party, pundit, movie-maker, etc.) and they become the message of the recipient (member, audience, etc.) to replicate vociferously. The more one does so, the more one comes to believe what he or she espouses. In this manner, the previously-developed filters, such as those advocated by the certain carpenter mentioned above, are never utilized as a tool to see and develop as a new and mutually beneficial worldview. As such, one is stuck to “conserve” what he believes he desires and surrounds himself with other similarly-convicted persons. They’ll often “quote” from the same television shows that support their previously transmitted viewpoint that they sent to you. Is this madness or what?

Visual images that are not created as self-developed images, by-pass the scrutiny of independent formulation, long-term development, critical review, and personal refinement; the hard drive memory is not filtering through its previous knowledge base. These images are only available to the short-term memory and are easily recalled for repetitive action. This is why “highly-activated emotion” is very prevalent as one attempt to express their position. It is the methodology of “rage over reason.” When have you seen rage produce positive results?

Of course, you could say, “You don’t have a dog in this hunt” as a means of acknowledgement of accepting the convenience of a prevailing ideology rather than the use of the analytics of reason to formulate a personal ideology. When you formulate a personal ideology with the intent to serve mankind and practice using it, It becomes a “remembering process.” Perhaps that’s why one tends to “not remember” much about a movie or a video program shortly after viewing it; because it by-passes the “reviewing stand.”

This process is more accurately called an “indoctrination process” and certainly not an educational process. This totalitarian tool is often used by “Communists” and is called “re-education.” In the old days, they used laborious tasks to achieve levels of compliance – though the victims of the indoctrination of communist rhetoric were simply choosing survival over ideology. Today, the ignorance levels used are the result of a personal choice to succumb to the banefully conscripted messages of some video images and sound bites.

Is this a communist plot? Well, it is rooted in fear; it does by-pass reason; it does reach the masses quicker and more efficiently; it does revile the brotherhood of mankind; it does separate rather than unify; it does not have a moral compass; it is not pious; it does cost so much less; it does attack the messenger; and it does seem to be effective. Is this the patriotic tree of liberty in need of watering or is this the work of facetiously-libel fascists of liberty made rotten?

I do hope this helps you with your Birther group and their unified group-thinking. It certainly helped me. And as you have become accustomed of me, to close without quotation is both unthinkable and uncivilized. But I’m sure you knew that and have a few quotes of your own. Let me hear from you and thank you for your candid comments.

Which is better – to think that you know something that you don’t;
or to be ignorant of things, but know that you are ignorant of them?
– Socrates

To be defined by our fears
is to accept as normal
the lowest possible level of emotional intelligence.
- Dr. Peter J. Gomes

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.
Humiliation and mental oppression
by ignorant and selfish teachers
wreak havoc in the youthful mind
that can never be undone
and often exert a baleful influence
in later life.
The aim (of education)
must be the training of independently- acting
and thinking individuals who, however,
can see in the service to the community
their highest life achievement.
Teaching should be such that what is offered
is perceived as a valuable gift
and not as a hard duty.
Only a life lived for others
is a life worthwhile.- Einstein

- igman’030210

*Cartoon illustrations courtest of xlcd.com
**Favorite terms of Einstein (knacks, cookery)
***The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus - What's So Good About The Good News, Dr. Peter J. Gomes

A "MIS-EDUCATION OF THE MASSES - Do we listen to validate what we already think?"

2009-11-14T16:11:00.031-07:00

The comment below is a perception from a viewer who posted it on Sean Hannitys’ blog site regarding a Cspan webcast called GOVERNMENT AND WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION .

The Federalist Society topic was wealth redistribution as a part of a Law Convention seminar. The web commenter's reflections regarding the program seem to illustrate an example (1 example) of a previous conversation I had regarding how people tend to listen for slant toward their own current perspectives and are left to remain there in their attitudes(perception), though they believe themselves "objective." The opportunity to gain a disparate perception is lost.

Viewer of the webcast comment: I just finished viewing the last 45 minutes of this program on CSPAN and the final question and debate section was excellent. I don't remember their names, but a brilliant University of Chicago professor puts several big time slams on a liberal commie Yale professor. Mark Levin fans will appreciate the UofC professor's references to Hume, Locke, Smith, Natural Law etc, Also Forbes was great and SEIU's Andy Stern was a typical double-speaking union boss as you would expect... I don't see how Forbes could bare sitting next to that scum for such a long time!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I believe there are opportunities for added perspective by listening to those who don’t necessarily agree with say our own perception. For instance, President Barack Obama is illustrating that via his administration's perspective to have conversation with other nations whose perceptions differ from those of his or our own but are based on their own perspectives. I believe his administration's approach is laudable. I do not believe it is an indictment upon intellect or ideology but is rather enlightenment. Education and its application the means in which we are illumined to resolve our differences.

We should learn to question ourselves why we think what we think; how we came to believe what we think; how the decision to think what we think results in the consequences we experience; and finally, whether the results from what we think produced the desired intentioned outcome. If it doesn't, we can change what we think. In order to change what we think, diversity of thought is essential. I believe this was the main reason that the invited speakers were ideologically as disparate as they were. They wanted to "mix-it-up" to see what became of it.

For the general relativity to perspective of the problems facing distribution of wealth, I believe history shows that concentrating wealth amongst a few produces wide-spread discord amongst the many. It retards equal economic opportunity, effectively killing The American Dream since the wealthy tend to keep the wealthy wealthiest. Call it a growing greed mentality. As the middle class is eroded spirally downward, they tend to blame the poor for being poor. To paraphrase Dr. Martin L. King, how can you expect a poor man to pull himself up by his bootstraps when he doesn’t own any boots?

In the second edition of POWERHOUSE HILL™ I addressed perspective patterns determine perception of the reality we experience. The prevailing pattern of perspective of the listening audience was one surrounding law, since this was a “Law Conference.” Law perspective provided the constraining context for the forum – Government and the Redistribution of Wealth. The opportunity presented was the different perspectives – natural law, governmental liberal historical and governmental conservative historical law, financial historical law, and labor historical law.

The television audience, as well as some who were present in the arena, are not necessarily so constrained to listen to differing views but rather are susceptible to listening for validation of what they currently think. Of course, the speakers too are susceptible to the same, as we found out from the Q&A session where debate was very lively and mostly defensive.

I believe for some of the speakers, in their private confines of research, a more open-minder approach will prevail. At least I hope so. When we go through life merely seeking validation through others who may think or see things the same way that we see things, we are not inclined to engage and wrestle with the differing perceptions and the differing perspectives that cause them.; such as – “Whether your viewpoint would be the same if your life condition was one that was substantively and materially less? It seems this wrestling process is the means toward what's noble in us and is what I deem to be Education to us. Everything else seems indoctrinal and unfit for civility. What do you think?

"The test of our progress is not
whether we add more to the abundance
of those who have much;
it is whether we provide enough
for those who have too little."
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
- igman'111309

Other info on Wealth Gap

(1) Across the Great Divide The Wealth Gap Challenges American Ideals - by Molly Lanzarotta

An extreme example of the growth of the wealth gap is found in the wage gap between executives and workers. While the average worker's pay in 2000 was lower than in 1980, adjusting for inflation, CEO pay was 10 times higher. In 1999, CEOs made 458 times as much as production and non-supervisory workers. If minimum wage had risen during the 1990s as rapidly as CEO pay, it would have been $24.13 an hour by 1999 instead of $5.15. Less in the realm of fantasy, if wages had at least kept pace with productivity, which rose 46.5 percent from 1973 to 1998, the median wage would have risen to $17.27 an hour, rather than $11.29, giving $12,438 more a year to full-time workers. So why are we complacent or in denial about what is no longer just a gap between rich and poor, but rather an ever-widening gap between the mega-rich and everyone else?

(1) Across the Great Divide The Wealth Gap Challenges American Ideals - by Molly Lanzarotta
________________________________________

UNCHAIN THE BRAIN

2009-09-30T11:34:00.054-06:00

(Photo of a slave collar meant to incarcerate the body)
UNCHAIN THE BRAIN: Your Background Can Create Perspective and Perspective Can Create Patterns in Your Life

Recently I was asked by a respected educator, “what can THE CANDLE GROUP do to address the state of our children today?”

I briefly thought about the question and uttered, “the problem with the youth is the same as the problem with society at large - the patterns of their perspective which formulates their patterns of perception is at fault. Those thought patterns bring them to where they are currently and better thought patterns will take them from where they are to places that will serve them better. Patterns are represented to our mind as images. If we envision negative image patterns, we will end up with negative behavioral patterns. If we envision fearful patterns, those fears will retard us. We must address and commit to change the pathology (pattern) images of their/our perspective as we attempt to educate.”

My answer may have appeared to come from the top of my head, but it hadn’t. For days, I had been meditating on this matter, after learning about the tragedy of the beating death of a young 16 year old student - Derrion Albert. He lost his life to some senseless violence. I'd seen the video of the violence while channel surfing, briefly stopping at CNN News with Rick Sanchez. I saw enough of it once and I have no desire to see it again. I do not wish to be voyeuristic.

As Mr. Sanchez discussed the matter, he seemed preoccupied with the idea of whether to charge the apprehended suspects as adults, as if that would represent a solution to the systemic problem of teen violence.

I’d like to advocate each of us taking on the larger issue of what can be done to address this seeming epidemic in our society and more directly within our community. Where stress and strife are allowed to fertilize, the most vulnerable, which are our youth, will be a most attractive feeding-ground for aberrant behavior. Though I am addressing teen violence, also look at the volatility presently played out in the right-wing of the political arena of our society. It too is one and the same problem which begins with ignorance. We all should announce a third war for Americans; A WAR UPON IGNORANCE.

Of these two groups, and there are many more, one is adults behaving like ill-informed children. The other is children behaving like ill-trained and ill-informed children. Children must first be trained with good habits before they can be informed. As we look around us at society, we see adults that are willing to argue about "the right to life of the unborn," but don’t seem to "care about that life after it is born and the health care problems it faces." I argue for the right to abundant life for the living – Heavenly Life for the Living, as spoken of in James Allen's "The Heavenly Life." We cannot become double-minded in this matter and I'm willing to leave myself open to criticism for saying this. I believe I am fortified and resolved to the task to debate my position. I am taking AIM™ and assuming some responsibility.

This present intended mindset to accept responsibility for the youth in our society in order to address solutions for the endemic problems within it is necessary. I am betting that there are lots of others who feel like I do and are ready to lift their individual and collective voices and take thoughtful actions to redeem our youth. Albert Einstein once said, "we cannot solve tomorrows problems with the same thinking that caused the problem." We need to take fresh "look-sees" to gain fresh perspectives. Often times, this requires new or refreshed leadership with new or refreshed vision-models for construction. Those who have been in the fight for a long time may have grown weary. Perhaps you have a thought-out vision to convey as help and are willing to work for this cause. Convey it and be open to critique. I would rather get this solution right that to "be right" as the solution to this social problem.

My heart is heavy as I empathize with the parents and family of Derrion Albert as I offer prayer for healing. Only God can nurture their hurt. Their loss could have just as likely been our own loss of a child. Just think about the idea of losing your own child to such senselessness. Now we as instruments of God's Grace must reach out to them and support them through this injustice. Derrion’s death must not go in vain so we must punish the guilty and work harder and smarter to redeem the youth who are left and open to the circle of influence of the ill-trained and ill-informed.

So we proceed on to those perpetrators of the violence and those who added kindling to incite the unenlightened; they also are victims of ignorance, still left alive. They are 16, 17, 18, and 19. They live in Anywhere USA. The patterns for their behavior have continually been noted as “at-risk” with attitudes so surely predictable to emulate mankind at his lowest state; unable to help himself except to act-out violently and elicit rage against some other. That behavior stems from perverted perspectives and patterns upon life itself; possibly morphing into nihilist behavior (someone who rejects all theories of morality or religious belief).

“It ain’t what you think that gets you in trouble;
it’s what you think that ain’t so. - unknown

And I, an ordinary and redeemed man who is guided also with a mission for THE CANDLE GROUP, begin first by asking of the Church as the body of Christ to which I am included as a part, to defortify itself from its edifices and release its legions upon the unenlightened youth and bring the hope of the church, Jesus, to them. He is not insurance. In Him there is refuge. In Him there is assurance.

We are really one village all across this world – this nation - inside every community, every haven urban and suburban – every burrow and township – every county and parish – every church, cathedral, synagogue and mosque; we all have one Divine Message of God and that is to Love as in taking heart-felt thoughtful action to apply Love; Love through enlightenment is the simple solution. Yet simple things are the most beneficial and difficult to get across as being helpful to most people.

What we are witnessing in our land is strife with a capital S. Strife is a lack of discord: lack of agreement and harmony. It is evidenced in bitter and heated conflict; sometimes often violent dissension. We know it also as stress, which is tension that can cause a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense.
Faulty perspectives usually begin with our background, where patterns are formulated. When we adopt those patterns in practice, they become our paradigm or the way in which we see the world. The patterns of our perspectives can lead us into and keep us into dark places. The patterns of our perspectives can lead us into and keep us into light places. When we don’t see evidence of light places, we are susceptible to dark places. This is the state of being of these youths who acted senselessly in the emotion of their collective moment.

Not all the youth of today act in this manner and we must take note of that fact. Actually, most of then don’t act in this fashion at all. But because they, like we as youth, are easily influenced and enticed by what is “cool; def; sweet” as defined by others, counter-cultures are ripe to be formed and suck them right up.

Many adults, from these counter-culture are now parents are not exempted from these patterns simply because of age. If we grow up in the counter-culture, - any counter-culture - it can become a governing part of your life. As earlier stated, background creates perspectives where patterns are formulated. In fact, as many educators will attest, we now know these very parents to be as big a source for the problem of reaching the children in order to teach the children. No responsibility is taken for the children.

So what must we in society do as we accept responsibility beyond righteous indignation? We must again take thoughtful and radical action to apply Love and teach others how to love first themselves and then how to love others. We must become change agents and commit to radical changes to enlighten in faith, in education, in philosophy, in religion, and in science. Almost ten years ago with some consternation, we accepted the calling to become an agent for radical change. We started with ARCSINBUSINESS since that was the initial focus and the namesake of our website www.arcsinbusines.com. ARCS means Advocates for Radical ChangeS. Lot's of changes.

But little did we truly know how far our journey would lead beyond business. Sometimes when you begin seeking your Personal Legend, you get lost and find a truly great treasure. That's what happened. We went on to discover and redefine our arc as tiny sparks that can light larger fires of illumination as arcsineducation, arcsinfaith, arcsinphilosophy, arcsinscience, arcsinspirituality, and even arcsinreligion.

ARCS are sparks or fresh energy not ensconced in the past but evolutionary like the trees growing and changing their colors. - New insights toward learning; broader beliefs to apply what we learn through conscience practice; by doing what we truly believe will produce a better belief system and one in which we can have more confidence. Not simply throwing out but learning more about the true power of our belief system. There really isn't anything new under the sun. Just additional ways to look at problems and solutions.

Will you give some thought to what I've just said? Will you spend some time with what was said? Will you pay attention (spend; sacrifice) and think about what was just said, drawing upon your own internal observations about how you currently direct your own attention one subjective thought at a time. This is THE LAW OF ATTRACTION at work within you.
This is how we will reach and teach the youth of today. They want to see results of their belief. To product that, they must understand the processes better than we've shown them in the past. When attention is focused, they will discover more about that subject to which their attention is focused. Their thoughts will formulate around that subject matter. They will begin to attract broader thoughts or more accurately thoughtforms, that conform or match the vibration frequency of their desired intention. The key is where they allow their attention to be placed. Focus is powerful practice. You are the driver of your attention. There are no exceptions to this process.

Energy flows where attention goes. Where is your attention taking you? Is it where you desire to go? If not, redirect your attention to your intention and focus in the new direction. Doesn't this make perfect sense?

THE CANDLE GROUP’S AIM™ program is a series of Personal Development workshops that focus on the thought/attention span and how we use them (thoughtforms) to better our lives. We discuss the following:

THE CANDLE GROUP’S AIM™ program is a series of Personal Development workshops that focus on the conscious thought/attention span model to improve life consequences. During the workshops we do the following:

1. Create awareness to the thought manifestation process. (New knowledge)
2. Identify the information base currently being utilized? (Old Knowledge)
3. Uncover thoughts/beliefs about information being used/offered? (Self-talk)
4. Determine the requirement for the use of the information? (Environment)
5. Discuss how information is processed within the mind? (Attention/Inattention)
6. Determine the habitual pattern at hand. (Desirable/Undesirable outcome)
7. Determine a better alternative habitual pattern. (Desirable outcome)
8. Identify how you will feel with the outcome of the alternative pattern.
9. Focus on the alternative habitual pattern? (Practice)
10. Believe what you practice. (Alternative belief)
11. Do what you practice. (Belief system)
12. Analyze the results (Evaluate)
13. Repeat from step

You can TAKE AIM™ today at one of our CREATE BETTER DAYS WORKSHOPS.
TURN ON, TUNE IN, AND TAKE OFF!

Why does everything have to be so competitive?

2009-09-19T18:40:00.023-06:00

“Why does everything have to be so competitive”,
asked a young boy of 14 years to his golf instructor?

The instructor provided an answer that left himself (Instructor)unsettled within his own heart-mind. Introspectively he perceived at the core level of his soul that there was more to the answer than he had provided.

This is a really beautiful question that illumines the intellect of the boy asking the question as well as the instructor seeking to provide an answer . Whether it was innocently asked or whether it seeks answers deeper than surface level, it should be regarded as serious inquiry. The boy should first be congratulated for asking it; he seeks understanding of a far more broad issue about human behavior and the social interactions between them as they exist. We are left with sadness and gladness.

Civilization is greatly influenced by competitions whether between individuals or in social organizations. I’d like to explore the collective abstract nature of the human being as it is busy being human; and how that nature is influenced as it inter-relates with other human beings within the social organization, causing new synthesis and new questions within himself. One of those questions is competitiveness to excel and rise within the stratification of the social organization.

Life itself is all about the raising of questions and not simply about the answers found. No satisfactory answer will end the above question. Every answer will come with yet another question attached to it.

So why then do we need competition as a purpose? Is there indeed a contest taking place when we compete or do we perceive that a contest is taking place, and therein create competition falsely when outside the realm of an actual contest? Are contests necessary? Do they naturally occur when two or more human beings relate to each other, or do they occur within one human being as he seeks to exist? Is it competitiveness when one human seeks food and is forced to compete with non-humans for the food? “This serious question requires serious and deep thought”, I spoke as I laughed at myself seeking answers.

The cognitive contemplation of our own perception of this question seems to be a good starting place. The word contemplation comes from the Latin root templum (from Greek temnein: to cut or divide), and means to separate something from its environment, and to enclose it in a sector. Contemplation is the Latin translation of Greek 'theory' (theoria). The word perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. It is a representation of what is perceived. It is a basic component in the formation of a concept.

What is the nature of competition in a contest or perceived contest?

It can be supposed in the direct sense of the initial question, that the arena for the competition will become a lead for us to consider. Confined to the bound parameters of the stated purpose for a contest, should lead us to the obvious answer of who is best at a particular moment in time. Yet we know future competitions are forth-coming. It seems merely a precursor; a derivative of the earliest nature of mankind’s instinct to survive. Who is fittest to live, morphed now as who is fittest to win; a pathology (disease) or phobia (disorder) that has become normalcy in our society today?

In abstraction, there can only be disparate competition when there is but one individual competing with another classification. There then is no need of comparison; only the knowledge of the accomplishment. Competitiveness appears to gain aberrant psyche-sociological relevance within the realm of like beings relating to each other (s) for dominance, subjugation, or reward in knowing.

Sociology is defined here as the study of society, human social interaction, and the rules and processes that bind and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of associations, groups, and institutions.

The Latin root for the verb "to compete" is "competere", which means "to seek together" or "to strive together" However, even the general definition stated above is not universally accepted.

Social theorists, most notably Alfie Kohn and cooperativists in general, argue that the traditional definition of competition is too broad and vague. Competition which originates internally and is biologically motivated can and should be defined as either amoral competition or simply the survival instinct, i.e. behavior which is neither good nor bad, but exists to further the survival of an individual or species (for instance hunting), or behavior which is coerced (for instance self-defense). Social Darwinists, however, state that competition is not only moral, but necessary for the survival of the species.

It would seem that to get to the root of competitive nature, one would need to explore the nature of the true self within an individual (inside influenced) and the nature of the egocentric self of an individual (outside influenced); I am what I have; I am what I do; I am what others think of me. This will edge on the age-old existential question of why do I as an individual exist? Can I exist without competing with another to exist?

The contest or competition between individuals is a representation of who is best fit to lead as stratified within the parameters of the contest. It nurtures the ego of the winner and extracts from the ego of the loser (s) who is left with the desire to become a winner and therein is nurtured for future competitiveness in order that others shall think well of him as winner and he then will deserve to think well of himself through proof of competition.

The competition is neither good nor bad. It is a perception of reality. It pushes the envelope of possibility to excel beyond the current level of achievement. It provides drive or motivation that is realized and celebrated when comparing non-disparate (similar or like) things to another. For instance: a race contest between a human and a cheetah could provide celebration only within one class of the participants and would be a non-valid contest, though the winner would certainly be the cheetah.

Now then, we are left with the question of how one looks at himself in existence. Humans cannot exist alone without social interaction with something else. Now slowly ruminate on that for a good while.

Does he (human) really exist except in relation to something else, animate or inanimate? How does he know the truth, excepting in relation to something else? Can one state truth alone without relating to something else? What would be the need of stating truth if he were alone without perception of any one or anything else?

In competition between humans, do humans compete for what is true and therein for the reward of settling it, which is having others have adoration for he who revealed and attained the truth?

I believe an answer to the initial question asked is “that the root nature of competition is a quest for what is true which is a changing thing. But the reward for finding what is true (adulation) is the desire to be loved, where truth is also found. It is a quest for Love.” Its’ absolute answer can only be found when we find ABSOLUTE TRUTH. There we will find ABSOLUTELOVE; Finding also how to love ourselves.

The type of love that is received (adoration and adulation) from a contest will not provide a satisfactory answer to the longing for truth and love, because it does not reach the level of ABSOLUTE TRUTH or HIGHEST TRUTH. AGAPELOVE or GODLYLOVE is LOVE without the need of reciprocity because there is nothing one can do to deserve it. ITISGIVENONLYBYTHECREATOR.

You can stop here if you wish. I believe I’ve supported my answer to the question, which ends with GOD. Or you can journey on with me to a preferred stopping point that deals with the different natures of love.. We are not seeking ending but rather, understanding. Remember, life is about the questions raised; not the answers found; because each answer comes with yet another question..

So what kind of truth/love would need comparison or a contest in order to gain it?

I realize I’m taking the original question much farther than the initial inquiry. That’s the way these types of questions are. So let’s continue to explore the socio-philosophic approach to the question anyway and see where we are led. I’m having fun right now and we can laugh together about the journey later, ok? Let’s see if we can gain some benefit for the additional inquiry – cui bono (who benefits)?

Additional research contextualized for the support the answer just given:

Philosophy ( philo is Greek for love, sophy or sophic relates to the truth or learning) means love of truth or learning. I suppose the philosophic approach is a methodology design to seek the truth of a matter. Methodologies vary.

Philosophy is defined as:
1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
2. Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
3. A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry: the philosophy of Hume.
4. The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
5. The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts, except medicine, law, and theology.
6. The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
7. A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory: an original philosophy of advertising.
8. A system of values by which one lives: has an unusual philosophy of life.
From Greek (This word philosophy originated in Greece )

To the ancient Greeks we owe our love of wisdom. Or at least the word philosophy, which is the same thing, phil meaning "love" and sophy meaning "wisdom." Combined, the two elements mean both a love of wisdom and a desire for it. In English, philosophy first appears in writing as early as 1340, when it is explained for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the word as "love of wysdome."

Wisdom is a word native to English, but we had no term for the love of learning or the desire to gain wisdom. Like the rest of the Western world, we learned that from the Greeks.

Greek is one of the great contributors to English, and philosophy a great example of the Greek contribution. Like many other Greek words, it came to us not directly from the Greek but first through Latin and then through French, the two languages that have contributed even more than Greek to the English we know today.

The two parts of philosophy recombine themselves in numerous other words. Phil- is found, for example, in philanthropy, the love of humankind; philharmonic, loving music; philodendron, a plant that loves to hang around trees (dendron being tree); and Philadelphia, or the love of brother or sister. We are so comfortable with Greek that we can use it to make stunt words such as philopatrodomania, or the mania that comes from loving one's homeland, that is, homesickness. Phil with an added e also appears at the end of dozens of words from Greek like bibliophile, a lover of books; ailurophile, a lover of cats; oenophile, a lover of wine; Anglophile, a lover of things English, and Francophile, a lover of things French; and pedophile, one with a (perverted) love of children.

The soph part of philosophy also finds itself in English words, notably sophisticated, full of a certain kind of wisdom; and sophomore, combining the words for "wise" and "foolish" to represent the state of mind of a second-year college student.

It is thanks to the Greeks that we have schools and scholars in the first place; both of those English words are from the Greek. Even today, scholarly fields of study are named in Greek, using the suffix logy from logos meaning "word" or "discourse." The three hundred logys in present-day English include archaeology, discourse about old things; biology, discourse about life; oology, discourse about eggs; neurology, discourse about the nervous system; geology, discourse about the earth; psychology, discourse about the mind; theology, discourse about God; eschatology, discourse about the last days of the world; graphology, discourse about writing; cosmetology, discourse about cosmetics; terminology, discourse about terms; and criminology, demonology, ufology, and sexology, which need no introduction. And then, we have philology, the love of words, of discourse, of learning, the name formerly given to scholarship in language and literature.

English has many other words of Greek origin as well, everything from catalog (1460) to zeal (1382). All told, about 5 percent of the general English vocabulary comes from Greek. Even today, science and technology use elements of Greek and Latin to construct new English words. One hybrid example, is television, which uses tele (meaning "distant") from Greek and vision from Latin.

Like English, Greek is an Indo-European language. It is the sole member of the Hellenic branch. Modern Greek is spoken by about eleven million inhabitants of modern Greece. But it is the classical language, the ancestor of modern Greek, that is the basis for our philosophical borrowings.

Philia: [Greek, from philos, beloved, loving.] Philo means love or liking. In his Rhetoric, Aristotle defines Philo as "wanting for someone what one thinks good, for his sake and not for one's own, and being inclined, so far as one can, to do such things for him" (1380b36–1381a2)

Types of philia

Aristotle divides friendships into three types, based on the motive for forming them: friendships of utility, friendships of pleasure and friendships of the good.
Friendships of utility are relationships formed without regard to the other person at all. Buying merchandise, for example, may require meeting another person but usually needs only a very shallow relationship between the buyer and seller. In modern English, people in such a relationship would not even be called friends, but acquaintances (if they even remembered each other afterwards). The only reason these people are communicating is in order to buy or sell things, which is not a bad thing, but as soon as that motivation is gone, so goes the relationship between the two people unless another motivation is found. Complaints and quarrels generally only arise in this type of friendship.

At the next level, friendships of pleasure are based on pure delight in the company of other people. People who drink together or share a hobby may have such friendships. However, these friends may also part--in this case if they no longer enjoy the shared activity, or can no longer participate in it together.

Friendships of the good are ones where both friends enjoy each other's characters. As long as both friends keep similar characters, the relationship will endure since the motive behind it is care for the friend. This is the highest level of phila, and in modern English might be called true friendship.

"now it is possible for bad people as well [as good] to be friends to each other for pleasure or utility, for decent people to be friends to base people, and for someone with neither character to be a friend to someone with any character. Clearly, however, only good people can be friends to each other because of the other person himself; for bad people find no enjoyment in one another if they get no benefit." (1157a18–21)

Not all bonds of philia involves reciprocity Aristotle notes. Some examples of these might include love of father to son, elder to younger or ruler to subject. Generally though, the bonds of philia are symmetrical.[4]
Self-sufficiency and philia

Aristotle recognizes that there is an apparent conflict between what he says about philia and what he says elsewhere (and what is widely held at the time) about the self-sufficient nature of the fulfilled life:
"it is said that the blessedly happy and self-sufficient people have no need of friends. For they already have [all] the goods, and hence, being self-sufficient, need nothing added." (1169a4–6)

He offers various answers. The first is based on the inherent goodness of acting for and being concerned for others ("the excellent person labours for his friends and for his native country, and will die for them if he must" [1169a19–20]); thus, being a wholly virtuous and fulfilled person necessarily involves having others for whom one is concerned — without them, one's life is incomplete:

"the solitary person's life is hard, since it is not easy for him to be continuously active all by himself; but in relation to others and in their company it is easier." (1170a6–8)

Aristotle's second answer is: "good people's life together allows the cultivation of virtue" (1170a12). Finally, he argues that one's friend is "another oneself", and so the pleasure that the virtuous person gets from his own life is also found in the life of another virtuous person.
"Anyone who is to be happy, then, must have excellent friends" (1170b19).

Altruism and egoism
For Aristotle, in order to feel the highest form of philia for another, one must feel it for oneself; the object of philia is, after all, "another oneself". This alone does not commit Aristotle to egoism, of course. Not only is self-love not incompatible with love of others, but Aristotle is careful to distinguish the sort of self-love that is condemned (ascribed to "those who award the biggest share in money, honours, and bodily pleasures to themselves. For these are the goods desired and eagerly pursued by the many on the assumption that they are best" [1168b17–19]) from that which should be admired (ascribed to one who "is always eager above all to perform just or temperate actions or any other actions in accord with the virtues, and in general always gains for himself what is fine [noble, good]" [1168b25–27]).

In fact:
"the good person must be a self-lover, since he will both help himself and benefit others by performing fine actions. But the vicious person must not love himself, since he will harm both himself and his neighbours by following his base feelings." (1169a12–15)

Aristotle also holds, though, that, as Hughes puts it: "[t]he only ultimately justifiable reason for doing anything is that acting in that way will contribute to a fulfilled life."[5] Thus acts of philia might seem to be essentially egoistic, performed apparently to help others, but in fact intended to increase the agent's happiness. This, however, confuses the nature of the action with its motivation; the good person doesn't perform an action to help a friend because it will give her fulfillment; she performs it in order to help the friend, and in performing it makes both her friend and herself happy. The action is thus good both in itself and for the effect it has on the agent's happiness.[6]

igman’091909
- Altruism is an ethical doctrine that holds that individuals have a moral obligation to help, serve, or benefit others, if necessary at the sacrifice of self interest. I do hope my pain to look at this issue will provide some gain to us all. Cui bono?

This is my stopping point, leaving us with much to continue thinking about. All of this could be completely eroneous or as the uninitiated will likely say, bul%$*!

Notes
1. ^ And also sometimes as "love".
2. ^ Hughes, p.168n.
3. ^ Cooper, p.302
4. ^ Happiness: Personhood, Community, Purpose By Pedro Alexis Tabensky, Published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2003, ISBN 0754607348, 9780754607342, page 205
5. ^ Hughes, pp 173–174.
6. ^ See Hughes, pp 175–176. For an alternative view, see Kraut, chapter 2.
Sources and further reading
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, dual text, with translation by H. Rackham (Harvard University Press, 1934) ISBN 0-674-99081-1
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics trans. Terence Irwin (2nd edition; Hackett, 1999) ISBN 0-87220-464-2
• John M. Cooper, "Friendship and the Good" (The Philosophical Review 86, 1977; pp 290–315
• John M. Cooper, "Aristotle on the Forms of Friendship" (The Review of Metaphysics 30, 1976–1977, pp 619–648
References in the article are to a reprint of the preceding two papers, as "Aristotle on Friendship", in Amélie Oksenberg Rorty [ed.], Essays on Aristotle's Ethics (University of California Press, 1980) ISBN 0-520-04041-4
• Gerard J. Hughes, Aristotle on Ethics (Routledge, 2001) ISBN 0-415-22187-0
• Richard Kraut, Aristotle on the Human Good (Princeton University Press, 1989) ISBN 0-691-02071-X
• Alexander Moseley, "Philosophy of Love", The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Do You Listen To Your Thoughts? Take measured reflection upon your Self.

2009-09-07T07:37:00.034-06:00

....from the "BROTHER CAN'T YOU HEAR ME" Series

We are not meant to always be under tutelage in life. Rather we are on a personal journey toward truth in determining what is “phat” as in good, great, and awesome; a revelation of the soul revealing truth; not as having to like what I like or see the world as I do or think as I do to define integrous truth. Integrous truth is livable truth for yourself.

Are you aware of yourself as a human being practicing "being human?" Is being human prescribed for you rather than described by you for you? Do you know what you want in life?

To get what you desire, you must know what you desire and filter it from the objective phantasmagoria of choices and plant it into the subjective fertility within your own heartmind. This is a process of LAW that cannot not work.

At some contemplative moment in life, one must examine ones life lived and determine whether it is lived consciously or unconsciously. In this I’m meaning having a reflective positive awareness of being in control of your life, as in a preemptive approach role versus someone ceaslessly telling you how your life should be, which is a reactive role approach.

The process of "free-thinking" requires extreme discipline to seek the true of the self. One must first awaken from the "walk of sleep" that so many travel. LISTEN INSIDE. In becoming aware of one's state of being, we are freeing ourselves to seek our true self as revealed through our "being," and therein discovering our true "being as a human." You are not finding something you are not; rather, you are discovering your true nature and your true self.

At conception, a prescriptive life is readied for each of us by those expecting our birth. As a growing babe, our role at first seems like that of an actor, seeking to gain favor of his audience. We begin by patterning ourselves by the most repetitive patterns we observe. Our attention becomes focused on the most repetitive patterns, such as learning who we see most; mother; then father, and so on. We hear them speaking....say da da...say da da....say da da...and then...da da...did you hear that...he said da da...da da...he said daddy.

Over time, more complex patterns occur; speech habits, food habits, clothing habits, cultural habits, etc. They occur almost "virus-like, as if you have become exposed to something." Pause a moment to give that some focused thought.

Alternatively, a descriptive life offers an active development of who we are and what we’d like to accomplish with our life lease. We formulate the pattern. Even so, there is a longing that we can't seem to explain; it seems to come from inside ourselves; it seems like some internal communication without any form, yet we seem to understand it. It's like an internal vibration or something we can't verbalize. As we are exposed to others, we speak about this communication. Then someone tells you that the source of the communication is God. It is God telling you right from wrong.

It seems like a guidance that is always within ourselves. We don't seem to need ears to hear it. We just feel it. We don't always have the courage to talk about it openly because we feel we will be judged harshly by others. So we begin to resist the monologue communication.

As we grow into adulthood, we discover conversation about God, and we become less and less afraid, and more and more inquisitive. We discover how fearful we have become, listening to others prescribe God's nature to us. Somewhere deep inside us, the prescription does not settle well. There seems to be a sort of conflicting reality that we can't explain. We long to describe it. We want to know more knowledge. We become a blended being of prescription knowledge and description knowledge. We become students of both didactic learning and dialectic learning.

I am suggesting that if you have ever experienced internal communication similar to what I've tried unsuccessfully to adequately describe, then follow your own instincts throught your internal vibe or vibration for yourself by taking a look inside, or better said, take a listen inside ourselves for the silent knowledge source that created you. LISTEN INSIDE.

If you read the Bible, you may have heard this passage referenced - If you hear His Voice, harden not your heart. -Psalm 95:7 and 8. I trust this is a reference to an inaudible, but clearly heard voice communication. The hardening of the heart referene alludes to "not being open or welcoming or fearful." This Voice for God is Holy Spirit speaking to you directly. It is internal guidance communication available to you. I have found IT best heard in humility.

Now this is a different way of looking at life; looking inside for guidance. “When we change the way we look at things,the things we look at do change as in transform or transformation.” What we begin to discover is a transformation of our thinking by revealation through our listening. When we do that, we discover more about our self; not conflicting selves but revealed self. We begin to discover our true nature, which is our true relationship to God. This pathway has been described as a journey on the Light path - out of darkness and into The Light where Truth Stands, awaiting us. Discover It for yourself and describe It for yourself. It awaits you.

Dr. Cornell West wrote “the desired intent [of our journey] is the formation of attention that is inseparable from the self - to inculcate certain habits of critical engagement that should result in the maturation of a soul. Philosophical enlightenment means taking a look to understand how you see the world. It means moving away from the superficial to the substantive; away from the frivolous to the profound."

Paideia: In ancient Greek, the word paideia (παιδεία) means "education" or "instruction." Paideia was the process of educating humans into their true form; the real and genuine human nature.

wisdom justice freedom
Parrhesia: In the classic discipline of rhetoric, parrhesia is a figure of speech described as: to speak candidly or to ask forgiveness for so speaking. The term is borrowed from the Greek παρρησία (πᾶν "all" + ῥῆσις / ῥῆμα "utterance, speech") meaning literally "to speak everything" and by extension "to speak freely," "to speak boldly," or "boldness." It implies not only freedom of speech, but the obligation to speak the truth for the common good, even at personal risk.

Philosophical enlightenment means the recalcitrance of ones own ideologies that are so branded into ones social subconscious that to be made consciously aware of them seems almost an unconscionable act of personal treason. So many of them (ideologies) are pervasive and not created of our own volition; therefore we cannot properly engage them because we are not fully aware of them. Man cannot engage that which he is not aware.

So then if we seek to increase our own awareness and not judge before understanding is gained, then we can eradicate an ideal that doesn’t coexist well with our enlightened, mature state of self-awareness, which is a state of continuous learning. That is a very worthwhile goal indeed.

A scholar is a learned person (especially in the humanities); someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines. Scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public. It is the responsibility of a scholar to advance publically what he has found in his private confines or research and scholarship. – John Hope Franklin

History exists in three time frames: the past, the present, and the future, though some say only two; past and present. Yet we write only in the NOW. Start writing a better tomorrow today. THE CANDLE GROUP advocates Transformative Learning which leads to thinking better, seeing better, learning better, living better, and speaking well with personal maturity, both morally and spiritually. Can we truly defend that which we don’t understand? Consider this process of what to do with knowledge:

define it defend it develop it or discard it
But above all else, direct it toward yourself before it is directed toward others.

I tend to write to unveil models which emerges out of me but not created by me; directed to myself for observation and understanding, and then to speak parrhesialy of it. It seems that this very expression in writing and then verbally, exposes me to some seemingly necessary criticism. Somehow, some value is gained in a manner that I can’t adequately explain. Perhaps it’s just the search for truth that can only be reconciled to itself, will we each find Salem/Jerusalem/City of Peace. Perhaps its ineffable and we find it when we find our self purpose.

When I listen to my thoughts, which come as epiphany that I consider to be leading filters, I am likened to a magnetic antenna receiving transmissions from a non-local source, requiring me to choose which thought to focus upon so that the non local source knows how to assist me. I suppose I could consider this as purpose-driven perspective. Regardless, as in any true learning it is asked only that we consider these following filters, [3] as excerpted from an attraction regarding philosophical study, to which I attribute in the footnotes:

Interpret fairly
[The] first responsibility is to develop an accurate reading of the original text; then your criticism can begin. Focus primarily on the adequacy of the arguments which support the stated conclusions. If you disagree, you can look for the weaknesses of that support; if you agree, you can defend it against possible attacks.

Support your thesis
Don't just state your own position; make it the conclusion of a line of
reasoning. Claim only what you can prove (or are, at least, prepared to defend), and support it with evidence and argument. Philosophy is not just a list of true opinions, but the reasoned effort to provide justification.

Consider alternatives
Be sure to explore arguments on all sides of the issue you address. Of
course you will want to emphasize the reasoning that supports your thesis, but it is also important to consider likely objections and to respond with counter-arguments. Be especially careful in your use of examples: the best positive example can only clarify meaning and lend some evidentiary confirmation, but a single counter-example disproves a general claim completely.

How about utilizing an open reading of Plato’s Republic for added perspective. There is much to be learned about our Western Civilization and its stratified developmental views and conflicts regarding the nature of the human being, the nature of justice, and the need of relationship and social order. I suggest this as a useful tool to aid in understanding ideologies as they may exist within us Westerners. EXAMINE THYSELF. A tool can be good and need not be perfect to be useful. There is no way to be perfect but there are a million ways to be good and useful and therein “phat.”

Learn to listen to yourself through your thought. Discover the source of your thinking. Seek internal guidance communication. Make a conscious attempt to share more than simply "your opinion." Opinions can be void of conscious thinking. To become or not to become is the question for your life, and it is best left up to you. This is the alluring nature of scholarship and one of the beneficial objectives of THE CANDLE GROUP, THE EUREKA SOCIETY, and THE POWERHOUSE HILL.

Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat; it makes the cat more aware. - igman’08001009
[1] igman
[2] Dr. Cornell West.
[3] http://www.philosophypages.com/sy.htm#wri – Guide to the Study of Philosophy, ©1996-2002 Garth Kemerling.

THE 44th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

2008-11-05T11:00:00.057-07:00

The 44th President of the United States
November 3rd, 2008

I penned some comments regarding success not long ago stating its significance as more about the overcoming of fears, which are unnatural, than of the realization of some evidenced outcome alone. Some of those fears are self-imposed. There are some of them that are imposed by others when we are young, to protect us from known harm. Then there are some of them that exist simply because of the unknown. Yet some of them are malevolent, mal-intended, imposed and reinforced to gain and keep influence over our thought and our behavior. This outcome renders us more manageable and predictable.

But the subject of that exposition was about success, stating, “Success as the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” 1 It went on to say that we must overcome our unnatural fears in order to reach our intended successes.

As we approach a seemingly significant benchmark in the history of The United States of America, which some will view as a success, let us become more aware of the true reality of the moment. That Barak Obama seems positioned to become the 44th President of the United States, is significant only in him succeeding the 43rd President of the United States; one man and his vision for the nation, along with his administration, succeeding another man and the reality of the course of his vision and his administration. There is only the revelation of that vision and not the fear of that vision.

Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. It is unnatural and untrue.

The air is electrically charged from the euphoria created by progress in black and white, left and right, health and wealth, right and might, the many and the few. Yes it is a special moment in history. But it is a more significant moment for mankind. We are facing the reality of shattering yet another sociological paradigm. Much like the belief that no one could run the four-minute mile or that no one could travel to the moon and return safely. W.I. Thomas stated, "If men see (think) things as real in their mind, those things become real in their consequences."

Taught and learned thresholds have no true validity.

That Barak Obama is a man of black skin-color is an insignificant reality deconstruction of a malevolent social construction to seek advantage. It is the manifestation of the constructed thinking of that which was known to be a false premise from its beginning [that men are not created equal], then having it morph into a crippling belief of superiority/inferiority. When a man thinks himself something he is not, the man is not changed; only what he thinks and what he believes is changed. "You see, a lie must have truth in order to pervert it. The man knows the truth because the truth is real. However the man choses to believe something different and he practices it so long that he forgets the truth." Now the lie becomes "his truth." And now, we somehow want to make the revelation of that untrue premise a significant outcome?

Pshaw! That which was true in its beginning (all men are created equal) is still true. It was perverted truth in its construction and fortified in its practice. No universal truth can become untrue. When shadows fall on truth, dark practices bound the mind. We have seen it previously in what we historically call, “The Dark Ages.” Let us observe, that the shadows upon truth are destined by universal law to be made manifest and the inevitability of light as truth will prevail.

Barak Obama is a black-skinned man that is positioned to become the 44th President of the United States. So what? What is significant in that? We are not electing him to become the first black-faced man to be President. We are electing him as the best solution of choice to help fix the problems of the decisions of previous presidential administrations, especially the latest one, that has left us at the brink of financial disaster as Americans. That is the worthy ideal of this successful accomplishment. He is best qualified to lead us, as proven by his intellect, his articulation of his systematic intent to repair a systematic problem, and his pragmatic, long-termed approach for a long-termed solution.

The truly significant factor, which is of even greater benefit, is “that we will have now shattered one of the many myths that exist in our lives that hold us as victims and pawns of the powerful and influential social elite class.” It is the exposure of the contradiction of a known myth that was accepted and fortified through unjust laws, and practiced, by those who gained advantage.

This accomplishment is not a narrowly defined objective to be limited to African American people. Quoting Dr. Martin L. King, “In this triumph, there is no personal advantage sought. This is a connection of the larger society. It is an axiom of non-violence and nonviolent democracy, that when any group struggles to achieve its own right, it enlarges the rights of all. This element is what makes both democracy and non-violent action, self-creative.2” It is just another mal-intended paradigm shift that has been deconstructed. In this sense, it is an truly independence day of sort for humanity as a whole. And with this independence comes responsibility, as the West African Adinkra symbol called fawohodie represents and reminds us. That has been an Obama mantra.

A paradigm shift, in contrast to ''normal science,'' means crisis. It means tearing down an established framework and reassembling the pieces into something quite new. [Thomas] Kuhn, [the man credited with giving us the term paradigm] noted that the crises leading to paradigm shifts often begin with new discoveries, experimental discrepancies that cannot be squeezed into the established framework. New data force scientists to see the world differently -- and afterward the data themselves look different.

The scientific community is experiencing its own paradigm shift, as it has reached the boundaries of mechanical physics and struggles with the reality of quantum mechanics and its "quirky and spooky behavior", to quote Albert Einsteim. The old definition of what constitutes "science" has been turned upside-down, being replaced with probability for a given outcome to occur. The new ideal is possibility and what is possible to occur. This is the new definition that is self-evident; this is the new order for science to proceed in the light of the new reality of quantum mechanics, which really isn't new at all. It was always present; they simply hadn't gained any understanding that they could accept. They created their own limitations to reality and have now chosen to deal with the new reality; more accurately, new understanding''

It is rather as if the professional community had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well.''3

In the context of these comments, we are not speaking only about scientist seeing the world differently, but citizens - ordinary people, mankind, seeing the world differently. Dr. Wayne Dyer, noted spiritual philosopher stated “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at changes.” My brother Chatom, felt it an important distinction to note that when you change the way you look at things, the things "begin to change." I felt it was a noteworthy distinction that change is a process that is incremental by nature and we should pay attention to the increments as evidence that ultimate change is in process. So noted.

I have long quoted a metaphysical phrase that may perhaps be applied here and better understood on the eve of this election regarding the likely-hood of Mr. Obama’s election and its simple reality that was always present; We must learn to see with new eyes that which goes unseen. The possibility always exists. Not with your natural eyes, but with the minds' eye. Only the minds' eye can limit the probability of the intended outcome. And you control that also.4"

And now, we must be definite and purposeful in our awareness and understanding that the world that was seen (inferiority versus superiority based on race and skin color) was an unnatural construction by men, that became the prevailing subconscious norm that was wittingly used by the politically astute and socially powerful over the weak, to keep them in their place of lesser social, political, and economic standing.

The deconstruction of this myth is yet more evidence of continual hope in mankind’s innate goodness and his ability to rise above the unnatural chains that keep him bound. “This victory is a triumph for democratization; this victory today, recognizes the righteous wind in our sail, of a self-creating form of democracy which is truly hated by the barbarous enemies of it, both those at our gates and those inside our gates.” We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but spiritual wickedness in high places. The spiritual wickedness is baneful thought and thought patterns for control of the body, which is the human's mean to taking action and your means of production. The battle is for your means of production.

If I control your thoughts and you willingly accept the thoughts I want you to have into your mind, your body becomes subject to those thoughts in your mind. This is how you are kept bound and binded and continue to "thwaddle and thwack about over insignificant matters." Awaken now to all the other mythological controls and folklore mechanisms that you have allowed to literally "retard you", meaning, to limit your progress to higher levels of thinking and more beneficial levels of wealth and successful living. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wealth in and of itself. Our ignorance is that in this "game of life as it is played here on earth" the wealthy don't want you to have it (wealth) and you are confused in the game of wealth acquisition. You think I am keeping you from wealth. Am I getting more wealthy? No. But the rich is getting more wealthy while you and I are working harder and longer than ever just to stay afloat. You are the wealthy's means to production; you are that means of production called labor, for the empowered elite.

Confused? Confusion is a bitch-of-a-trick, ain't it? Just take a look at the wealth divide to see if you are joining the wealthy or if fewer people are wealthy today but the wealthy are wealthier. Wealth is being consolidated in the hands of the few, because mass media is able to reach your mind more effectively and more efficiently and mass production is able to produce more and more with fewer people at a cheaper expense factor (globalization).

All the while, you are griping about your mass-produced cell phone, staring at your flat screen television display that is wirelessly connected to the internet, and all you can think of doing with it is strive to get Netflick or Blockbuster movies downloaded so you don't have to go to the video store. Oh yeah, you alos want to get access to Facebook to find out some insignificant thing about someone else's life. You are now hypnotized. Follow the yellow-bricked road and "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain at the control panel," to quote The Wizard of OZ. You are now in the land of The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz! This is what we do here in OZ - make things, using as few of you humans as possible, to relieve you of more of your money. "What else did you think this black/white racial game was all about, truth? "Now get back to work and make me my money," said the man.

We will make special significance of this accomplishment as African Americans; deservedly so. The eyes of our ancestors demand acknowledgement of their sacrifices as we today stand on their shoulders.

Yet their dream is greater even than this Presidential election. Their dream must continue, for it is rooted in the ground of fair play. Their collective dream is that the playing field, which is constructed by mankind, be one of opportunity for all and that it become level and fair; and that fair play prevail and become the rule for the field of play. This is the ideal they (ancestors) set and the one we should continue to follow as Americans, but mostly as humans.

We should not be in love with the ideal for our nation alone, but with the practice of the ideal within our nation. We're not there yet. The rules are changing as we speak. The spirit of hate and discontent has been long practiced and is deeply rooted. It may change its form, but its spirit will rear its ugly face as surely as I write this message. But if We The People Stand Up and not become confused by changing rules, we can continue to make progress toward the ideal.

As a people of humanity; black and man, red and yellow; Jew and Gentile; Protestant and Catholic; Buddhist and Hindu; we as a people of humanity and God's Love, will get to this ideal of promise when we practice what we teach in the schools; when we practice what we preach about truth in the pulpits; and when we practice in our life what we teach and preach to our children.

When this ideal is truly realized by having become the new paradigm, America will have become 'One Great Victory for All' in the struggle of the human condition to overcome itself and its pernicious decisions to create a self-imposed hell. Good fortune Mr. President. Our prayers and the prayers of our ancestors are with you and other like-minded leaders.

-igman’110308

4 gman

1 Earl Nightingale.
2 Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. addressing the American Jewish Committee, 1965
3 Excerpted from the article by James Gleick, published December 29, 1996, who is the author of Chaos: Making of a New Science.

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

2008-11-05T10:41:00.019-07:00

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Let me state for the record, “I’m really talking about succeeding and not specifically about failing or fearing.” Yet since many seem to discuss their fears or doubts regarding a notion, allow me a short discourse to make my point.

Success begins in the mind with a thought, so isn’t it natural for that to be the starting place for fear to begin. Your mind is the fertile planting ground for thought, good or bad, benevolent or malevolent. Your mind doesn't care what you allow to be planted in it or even who plants it there. That's your job; to care what is planted and who you allow access to plant in your mind. The result is what brought you to where you are right now, believe it or not.

The good news, which is the gospel truth, is that your thoughts will also take you to where you'd like to be taken. However, your thoughts taken alone is not the only path. Your heart has a role as to what thoughts are actionable thoughts to lead you to your desire. Sometimes; if fact most times, we avoid understanding this critical pathway process, and we find ourselves somewhere we didn't truly desire to be. In other words, "we changed our mind."

Well, don't worry or despair. You now know the knowledge process of the heart pathway, which is thought through the filtering of the heart. Follow it. It is illuminated for you.

Now that you are awakened....you are becoming enlightened. You can get more information about this process in the upcoming zany workbook I'm writing, called 'THE MIND GARDEN'S WORKBOOK'. That is, if it get's published. I'll have to find an equally zany publisher willing to laugh while taking the risk with me. Either way, it's still truthful, believe it or believe it not. Truth doesn't care whether you believe it, IT IS. What do I mean when I say it is truthful? It means it was writen in The Presence of The Spirit of Truth. So lets go on.

"Have you heard of the story about how to train an elephant?" You begin when it is very young when the elephant hasn’t grown very large. Its brain hasn’t fully developed either so it is learning its way in life. The trainer tethers one leg of the elephant to a stake in the ground to limit its movement. The elephant pulls and tugs until he forms the mindset that it is hopelessly unrealistic to try. Then the trainer comes and un-tethers it, walks it, feeds it, and generally allows it to move about.

This process, of "learned behaviorial traits" along with others, are repeated day in and day out until it becomes reality to the elephant that the trainer is associated with its movement and its sustenance. Therein the elephant becomes trained. If you think deeper and longer about this methodology of control, humans can "become trained in the behavior," much like the baby elephant. Habits become more difficult to unlearn when they are learned as a child and reinforced by a custom, a belief, a tribe, a society, or even a faith or religion. Hmmm...I can feel the heat around some collars as you slowly contemplate this reality. This is the start of your awakening....

What does this have to do with success and or fear? There are fears taught to us from the times we are children. Many of them are meant to protect us from known harm. Yet some are developed simply as a reaction to the unknown that we manifest ourselves. And we continue to manifest fears as we go through life on an unknown journey, as perceived in the picture above of the boy on the boardwalk.

Fear is our reaction to a perceived psychological threat. It causes physiological change in our body parts, such as faster heart rate, keen intensity, tighter, furrowed brow, tighter lips, clenched teeth, etc. It’s really funny and telling when we think about our reaction to things of which we are fearful. Snakes, darkness, dogs, heights, enclosures, flying, swimming,
and many, many others.

Fear wants you to believe what is unbelievable. Fear wants you to believe something is present when it really isn’t. Fear knows how to activate the creative side of your brain and lead you into wildly into illogical conclusions.

How about this one – Fear of losing? We get so caught up on losing something, whether it be a precious object, a person in a relationship, or an endeavor. We become victims of our own self-doubt. Shakespeare wrote, “Our doubts are traitors that cause us to lose the good we oft might gain by failing or fearing to attempt.”

Are you aware that there are those that fear success? There are people that are actually afraid of succeeding at something! Of course, they don’t outwardly tell themselves that. They build up resistance and then spend their time talking about reasons why they don’t attempt to find success. There are people that spend their whole lives failing because they are afraid of succeeding at something. They spend their whole lives failing because they feel success carries to large a cost.
Therefore they don’t take hold and try to succeed or try to overcome what they fear! They build up all sorts of doubt concerning not taking risk.

The success of fear is when it keeps you from attempting a path toward success. Let me say again, "the sucess of fear is when it keeps you from attempting a path toward success." You define what success is to you and then match your thinking to it, remembering to cross the pathway of the heart.

Overcome your fears and successes will follow you. Funkadelic, a George Clinton led 70's band sang, "Free your mind and your ass will follow."

God’s Word says it simply and best……FEAR NOT – "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Tim. 1:7)If you find that you are currently thinking unsound thoughts, give consideration to the source of those thoughts and take accountability for them. You are the only one truly in control of them. They take their orders from you. If you allow control of your thoughts to someone else, it is like allowing someone else to drive you, giving control of the steering wheel to that person. Your destiny is literally placed in someone else's hands.

So take control of your thoughts and the responsibility for them. If you need help, get it from someone you trust who seems in control of their own thoughts. Your life depends on it. We are complete for now.

"If you argue for your limitations and they become truly your limitations to keep you right where you are." - Richard Bach

FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real.
igman’103008

Stuck in the Muddle

2007-12-04T02:06:00.003-07:00

"..nothing significant happens in business until something is sold in business. "

My liege, what company is this we keep?

Emerged from the toil and stifled rule
where every thought be not your own
and a rule be made for every thought;
I now feel the energy of composing winds of words
above crystal lakes of waters crossed in my long journey...
Unconcerned with the perilous plots of lying mud
deep in the water's bottom; and when stirred...
slowly rises to cloud the view of a profitous journey's end.

Oh but to suffer this cloud of outrageous fortune
whose lips sling arrows that strike quickly...
their canons fire from my left - yet directly at me;
and the marksmen themselves are but jokers,
standing at my trusted right...
Now do I find myself stuck in the muddle
Of contumely company kept,
sadly wrote the bard.

To have traveled so far
only to profit yet another stifling rule?
Evenso with treasures gained in the journey?
And to be left with the company that speaks yet another imperial rule!
Now you my liege?
Et tu Brute? (And you Brutus?)
What unwise company is this you keep about you?

Ancora imparo. (Still I learn)
...greatest be the snares amongst the confines of noble causes
...at times finding strife without cause, when you least expect it;
...other times, you might also find enemies, amongst those you'd least expect
Who find their way with the men of straw, deceit, and envy...
As they twiddlel-twaddle and thwhack about in nothingness.

Still mine is but to dream in the reality of the blessing,
of another attempt to enjoy life with compassion for all.

- igman'120407

"Come my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a new world ....for my purpose is to sail beyond the sunset." - Ulysses
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Concerning The Neo-Universal Law of Slavery, cui bono?

2007-11-19T04:45:00.037-07:00

"...In the land of the blind the one-eyed jack is made king; but he'd better have a blue eye!" - ulmange
"...How deep down the rabbit hole do yah want to go, Alice?" - Alice in Wonderland

The “BROTHER CAN’T YOU HEAR ME” series
I've recently decided to bring this message back for review. It's more relevant now than ever. - igman'121310

“…If yours be the wiles of this life, which is played as a mere board game of chess not checkers, then know the game being played and know the rules of the game - cui bono.. However, if your quest is for life of the highest order of things, and that is to live the best life - then Know Thyself.” - igman

The game is and has been played for a long time in black and white. It is only a disguised strategy; a strategy of strategies. The game is clearly an economic game of wealth acquisition and controlling the means to the wealth (See The Terrible Transformation) via power, priviledge, and pawns. It is a game of contrast between the haves and the have-nots. It uses iconic illustrations of priviledge to direct and administrate control. To support it, everything must be defined, classified, and stratified.

Who started this game being played? Hypothetically speaking, let's just call him, “The Man.” This Man, we have learned, is spiritually wicked; structuring wickedness is in very high places. These people change over time in Positions and in Power; still all are maintained structurally through Place-Priviledge or the lack thereof. This maintains the desirability of the infrastructure that effectuates the rules of the game. These positions of power cross political, religious, social, and economic ground. "The Man" has been around since the beginning of the ages and controls leaders that you may never have heard of, but they are the puppeteers who pull the strings. The Man is the Master Puppeteer who controls the puppeteers. But who is "The Man?"

The Man in his mystique, is beginning to “remove his invisible hand from the puppet’s torso”. The spirit of the man is now revealing himself as spirit from behind his "previously useful mask of oppression." The game has always been about strategies of deception and covertly played. But now it will be openly played. There is no need to hide because the people are quite distracted as pawns, concentrated with having and not having, defining who deserves what, and seem unaware that the pawns are not enemies, yet they continue to bicker and slaughter one another. The strategy of skin-color continuously works as The Man, robs them both. "Don't mind the men behind the curtains, ok?" They are your friends and the pawns are your enemies.

Another phase of the game begins with the cultural slavery strategy. The purpose of playing the game is only to win. To win what you ask? To win universal slavery of all humanity, short of those few who write and change the rules. But who are those few? And who is "The Man?" We now join the game with its strategies in progress.......

I'll ask you a certain question and you give me your answer. "Who is ‘The Man?”
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Starting with a few friends culturally classified as white (here forward to be called THE WHO) at first start, showed their concern seemed to be desirous to "get the right answer" because they suspected a riddle. I further explained my desire to get their true opinion, regardless to whether we agreed or not. "Agreement was not the point", I instructed.
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They then repeatedly stated rhythmically, “you da man” or “I’m the man”, as if in jest or in the midst of a good-natured game. I then asked, "can you tell me a different understanding of “the man?” To my surprise, they couldn’t. Now I must admit this questioning certainly wasn’t statistically sound; nor was the sampling of the group. It was just the acting upon a hunch. This question was going nowhere fast. To be truthful, I really didn't know where I was going with asking and time was slipping away. The leisure to think deeper was not at hand.

Previously, I'd asked the same question of a few other friends, culturally classified as black (here forth to be called THE WHO TOO). "Who is The Man?" I was careful to use the same tone and voice inflection. The answers came back mostly, “the white man." Some said, “Mr. Charley.” When questioned about who Mr. Charley is, they then said, “the white man.” A few did play the "who da man riddle", also answering "you tha man or I'm tha man."

Returning to THE WHO, conversation continually revolved the same as before, leading me to define “The Man” as the oppressor of people - as in American slavery. I quickly noticed THE WHO seem to experience discomfort as well as detachment. They laughingly called me racist. Yet, there was clearly a sense of avoidance and a willingness to be distracted to any other subject matter. This was not done offensively, but clearly consciously.

Since the desire was to have the question answered from their perspective and not meant to make anyone uncomfortable, we allowed our attention to turn to other matters and the opportunity had lost its focus. In my subconscious mind, I mused, "why are we culturally classified as men in the first place if it wasn't meant for dividing and distraction?" And who is doing the classifying of us all? And what is our attention being distracted from? Who is "The Man?"
After receiving the reply “the white man” from THE WHO TOO, their answers required no definition or clarification. It seemed the mere asking of the question revealed an inspirited desire to converse toward the subject matter. A collective consciousness was in the air and though the conversations were different in this consciousness, the clarity and commonality of understanding was uniform. Oppression was clear. I became uncertain whether they were answering my question or making a passionate declarative statement of surety of "I know who the man is and he is the white man,"

Yes, there truly was a "spiritual wickedness " afoot and I could cleary see the manifestation of its presence. The genie was removing himself from the lamp. THE WHO TOO saw "the white man," as the oppressor of their condition from slavery through now and beyond. THE WHO, saw race as something to be avoided - not personified but avoided. RACISM, real, in every sense of the word - except non-physical. THE WHO TOO couldn't point to this white man or that one. It was the white man. THE WHO couldn't face the race issue. I suspect the examination is painful. Now that is a paradox. But is "the white man" truly synonamous with, "The Man?"

[click picture] I'm reminded of another WHO TOO that added, "God is THE MAN!" Well now..... with that response, I have to head in a different and deeper direction for more broad understanding. God Is Absolute and the answer seems interesting. God is the man and when God is acknowledged in the man, is there need to search for "The Man?" That's a whole other dimensional perspective that I hadn't anticipated to my question. I'll place that one on the sidebar for later exposition.....but I'm really intrigued by that.........GOD IS THE MAN and having more of THE MAN in us.....interesting....

As a result of the latest answer, I saw flaw in my questioning. I too must question myself and my own definition of The Man, which might be a lucid entry to this story adding personal dystopic gravity, even more than I'd anticipated; a bad dream within a bad dream. This damning and persisting question seems to trouble and bewitch me, as if I am "one who takes a glance while inside a carnival funhouse made of glass and mirrors reflecting deceptive images and distorted appearances;" as if to lead nowhere. Perhaps, what I'm really trying to gain is perspective toward a validation of my own perspective of causality. The result of the question is that someone or something is "The Man" and my quest. .....ion....goes on. Yes, evidence of The Man is still present in me still playing his game......."who is "The Man?"
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racist....no I'm not racist, and here is a scientific test from Discover magazine [PROJECT IMPLICIT ] to determine racist tendencies. [click here] Also, here is a free pdf. scientific download to show measurable prejudice (Let's call it The Game In You ) also from Discover magazine. However I do recognize that I write as a polemic asking questions that may lead across racial boundaries. I ruminate reminding myself of the really tormenting paradox that very little if anything reveals its meaning throught appearances. Most everything is more complex, full with a universe of hidden dimensions[2]. So too life - it's not about the answers found but the questions raised. Someone must raise questions; especially those with hidden dimensions, and it may as well be me...........

WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE PRODUCT OF GENERATIONS - WICKED OR RIGHTEOUS - FREEDOM IS NOT BECOMING MASTERED BY POWER OR PRIVILEDGE OR POSITION TOWARD THINGS. THAT IS SLAVERY.....OR BEST SAID AS "The Man in You."

BROTHER CAN'T YOU HEAR ME? This highway of quest...ions.....won't be crowded.... -gman
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My suspicions led me onward to pursue my quest....ion with growing interest and passion as I return to the game.....cui bono?....
"Who is The Man?"
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*[click picture] note the Frank & Ernest comic strip below where there are two homeless men having a discussion with a school-age boy, when one of them states, "SCHOOL IS MOSTLY TRUE-FALSE QUESTIONS KID, BUT REAL LIFE IS ALL ESSAY QUESTIONS."___________________

The point of my questioning has become a boiling essay question infering differing perspectives of awareness of "The Man." They all seem to come from some semblance of experience yet they hold different order of priority in the consciousness of the disparate groups. On this subject, there was no uniform collective consciousness between the two groups or even myself. It seemed my hunch was correct - there was a huge disconnect.......something was being lost in the translation of "The Man." Perhaps the contextualization limits the perspective. Cui bono?

Who is "The Man?"
While I watch a pre-recorded lecture conversation in which Noam Chomsky was the interviewee, commenting toward the postulation from the host of being better off under capitalism and if so, who does capitalism benefit: said Chomsky to the host, “were the black slaves better off when we compare their condition from 1840 to 1850? "Yes, they were beter off", he stated, "but what type of argument is that? They were still enslaved!" Cui bono? I feel the force of "The Man."
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Chomsky referenced George Fitzhugh, a pro slavery advocate of the antebelleum period, having made the same point as the host; and the point of perspective is unsound, excepting of those who were not subjected to the conditional state of the slave. The postulation was not an intellectually serious argument for slavery nor for capitalism. "Capitalism", I exclaimed! I feel the force of "The Man."
Suddenly, I realized, to understand more about my question, I needed to understand more about the people who espoused "the perspective of the white man" and for what purpose. I must feel the force. Perhaps I would find out if the white man was, "The Man." Cui bono?

I researched George Fitzhugh a real American character. After reading some of his writings for his position upon slavery in general and particular, I quickly found him fitting to represent the embodiment of my long-sought image of a soul-less formation with no altruistic character – an invention of his mind believing and regarding himself and others like him, as self-serving men of manifest destiny having been ordained through some sort of “christainization.” A hah - divinity defining "The Man" and The Man defining men."
Over time, men seem unaware that they are attempting to define and describe God in their own image, rather than themselves being defined in the image of God, which has no image at all! How can there be an image of spirit except from an imagineer of a cartoon. It is counter-intuitive. Why even the man who walked the earth to set an example for us to live by, had to be made to have certain Euro-centric appearance features that defied natural scientific realities (many times depictions of Jesus showed him with blue eyes). Images...images...images I heard , over and over in my mind.....images support ideologies...ideologies come from men.....hmmmm....Who is The Man?_____________________
Interesting....
What manner of men would enslave a body of a human being, telling himself the being is not human but partly human; and would then incarcerate his mind by removing him from his environment, unable to communicate the new language, leaving him with only ephemerally visual memory of his past; placing him with common likenesses of skin-color but no common cultural tradition or language; raping his women and bounding his children. If that black man was such a beast, why would they rape the women of a beast? What manner of man would claim Providence for himself from God, while committing such a crime against humanity? Oh, my God....I see....We must worship different and disparate gods....... like so many have argued and warred about over time!
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George espouses a natural order of things, referencing the universe as his resource - seeing himself as "the white man" in the planned order of the universe. Divine Providence. George really hadn't accomplished much with his life, before taking his advocacy for slavery position. In fact, it was by taking that position, George found his way. As "the white man" George found his way for accepting himself. I now ask myself if this is "the white man" as identified by THE WHO TOO, identifying himself as "The Man", in his own eyes, as aligned in order by god? Cui bono....
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.....George, didn't seem to rightly understand that the only truism for his life is his death. He saw his life beginning materially and he had divine right to the material. Him, "The white man." Materialism and the right to it.....capital and the right to it........is the game about wealth and the means to it?.....
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Oh, so the role of race classification is to separate wealth, to maintain access to wealth, and to have it for "the white man", by George!
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But George had modeled his thinking around Thomas Carylise, a Scottsman who had lost his Christian faith. So George, learning from a man who had lost his faith, somehow found faith and godly order for himself through that man ? WOW! This intellectual perception of scholarship deserves a double WOW. Man I hope you're getting this! Dammnnnn...talk about a god complex.
So is this the dominant philosophical paridigm for "the white man" and his priviledge? Was George mimiking something from "the old country?" Was "The Man" something regarding one's color or one's privilege for a certain class defined by color. But is there class without color? George wrote in his argument, not only a pro slavery position against blacks but for slavery of men in general. Slavery beyond color......and who would that slavery be for.......... [See George's letter]. That's interesting.......... Brief U.S. Slave History
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As a diminutive tool, this wickedness uses the bourgeois WHO to oppress and spar with THE WHO TOO; THE WHO unwittingly not understanding that they too are victimized with his temporary license for privilege through codified law as well as the "spirit of that law;" for he is the future victim of the invisible hand of capitalist exploitist, who will ultimately resort to the very cannibalistic rhetoric it uses and therein feeds and engulfs on itself.

So just who is “The Man?”

With heart now thumping, hearing the tom-tom beat of the invisible drum bumping as it resonate war upon my soul, I exert effort to examine this unseen entity. As I do so, I see the land of my ancestors and I feel the stares of their thousand souls in one glance. I do also fearlessly see “The Man and His Ways” more clearly. I feel the force of The Man. The Man no longer need quotations.

______________________

Deception has not left his hand. Smiles and cajole are his allies as he dances in the daylight and the night. His bonds still shackle the mind of the slave, even the soon-coming slave called of his own, as he placates the unwitting. My breathren, who of topical difference, born of seeming chance, is also a common warrior against a common incarcerator, whether you know it or not. You must come see the true enemy......
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THE WAR BETWEEN THE WHO AND THE WHO TOO MUST END TO FIGHT THE TRUE WAR THAT IS SEPARATING YOU AND I FROM OUR WEALTH!
Unapologetically, the man trounces upon the sacred code of his own law, pausing to stamp a proverbially defiant foot and shake his soon conquering fist toward any who blocks his destiny. At last, he sighs, “they now change these troublesome laws that slowed my progress.” "At last, the populus hears my voice, uniformly discorded via my mass media controls."

Having formerly been an unwitting integer of his intimately intricate web, today, I more clearly see the Achilles heel of the “The Man”. For his is one that fears death. His is a slave to death. His must promote his vision, as if it is life, as he seeks to avoid death. His has his reward. Referencing Seneca, “he who has learned how to die unlearns slavery.” I might add, “he who has not learned how to die seeks to live forever in his ways, never learning how to live in truth.”
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*[click picture] note...the comic strip below reads, Q1:FRANK, LOOK AT THIS! WE'RE PART OF A TEST ANSWER SHEET! THIS MUST BE THE MULTIPLE CHOICE PORTION; Q2: AND NOW IT'S TRUE-FALSE; Q3: THIS MUST BE AN ESSAY QUESTION. ERNIE, HE'S WRITING IN MY HEAD; Q4: NO FRANK, IF HE'S WRITING IN YOUR HEAD, IT MUST BE "FILL IN THE BLANK!"

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So along he moves, writing on our heads, .....carrying with him the icon of the privileged elite and the icing of their cake – wealth and riches; carrying with him, the carrot and tool of the bourgeois - his job, that girds the ephemerally-privileged position on the invisible chess board game of life; on he stomps that boot upon the proletariat, reminding him of his place.......
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......The Man is now, The Man in Full or better said, The Man Is Full of It, having infected all of us all...spreading viruses...... cultural viruses......marching onward to new markets......not really caring about any classification of man.......dangling his model of Mercantilism and with it, his jobs – the tools of his looming despair……leaving in his wake the spoils of a ravaged marketplace......onward.......consuming....marching and commanding in cadence…… Order, position, place…. left…right….left….right…left….war…war….war….Order, position, place....

But when does his panacea come? Perhaps the panacea has come – for the plutocratic elite.

They've successfully and systematically made the majority rule a majority ruled. As THE WHO are continually separated from their means of production and limited to bartering their labor in a market of low and declining demand - they are still having their strings pulled by distraction toward those who you've been told are the beneficiaries of your labor. Now how much is your labor worth? Not much today. I agree. But are you convinced that THE WHO TOO is the cause?
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BROTHER CAN'T YOU HERE ME?

How much is $1.5 billion? That's the cost of one Stealth jet. How much is $1 Trillion? That's the cost of the Iraq invasion/occupation......whatever. Where is the oil or is that not the point? How much higher can gas prices go? Or is that the point? And who benefits from the machines of destruction and the high gas prices? You certainly don't. Protection from terror? I'll tell you what terrorist I see. I see "I'M TERRIFIED BY THIS BUSH ADMINISTRATION..WHAT WAR IS NEXT - And being terrified is the work of A TERROIST! [SEE COST OF WAR BY STATES]
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BROTHER CAN'T YOU HEAR ME? Are you confused as hell yet by this rocking back and forth between "The Man"... Racism....Capitalism..... Terrorism.........just you wait..........as we march onward......to GLOBALISM.....shushhhhh..."It's all about ISM's and Ideals, you know!

Surely by now you know "The Man" who has unveiled himself as THE MAN IN FULL is Belial matured. Belial is the proper name for satan, the negative spirit of the negative ego. That spirit's character is glutony, pride, anger, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, scarcity, greed, sickness, cynicism, avirice, etc. When you get caught up in playing the game, the Belial spirit is caught up in it. You become the man in full; the man who is full of it(negative ego). It (Belial) is your enemy as well as mine. You see, this is the spirit that consumed George Fitzhugh, and it can consume you and I if we empower it through accepting its manifestations (forms). Puzzled and confused?.....That's because you're in THE GAME and you are being played...Confusion is the nature of the game, said Blood, Sweat, and Tears...Tears....good....Haven't you guessed my name? Your move man....
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You allow these villanous robber-barons to rule and steal your children's future, ignorantly believing they're working for you as you see the gap betweent the wealthy and the poor widening; you don't see yourself as poor yet, as you leverage your mortgage and use your credit cards to finance your children through school as the rates are raised on the cards; you vote these rascals into the seats of government that is increasingly becoming a world government of new order; you bitch and bellow about Republican and Democrat, while voting with the rich that hate you; you war in Red States and Blue States, believing one party has your concerns at heart, though you continuously work harder for less and less, and you lose group insurance coverage, and still you blame the poor; soon you won't have the poor to blame because you will have become one of them and you certainly won't blame yourself. Face up to what you already know to be true within yourself; hold the politicians accountable to you and your vote, and not to the wealth that steers them alos. Act to change the disasterous course of this inhuman discourse – For we are headed to the self-imposed enslavement of all of humanity..bad move.....CHECKMATE!
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So now that this was all a bad dream, begin with “the man in the mirror”, better known as the man in you. YOU MUST DESTROY "THE MAN IN YOU." Unless of course if the man in you be of GOD CREATION; you cannot destroy him because he was perfectly created. You can only "think" you are your creation. You call this your ego. This is how the man in you gets into you - your thoughts. Don't allow "the man in you" to be like George Fitzhugh. Don't think your relationship with God to become like the god relationship George created for himself! Turn to GOD again by repenting from your error. We have a model in Christ Jesus. Become yoked to this REDEEMING RABBI as the application of HIS LOVE and live now forevermore.

Again I quote, "learning how to die is the unlearning of slavery" said Seneca," the Roman; "the unexamined life is unfit for a human", said Socrates,"the Athenian; "read , but mostl he The Voice for God, which is Holy Spirit, as THE WORD and live in communication with The Voice for God, speaking HIS WORD; for HIS WORD will read you into Correction of your error and not hold you bounded with the guilt of sin, "said igman, the off-spring of the enslaved, now a free-thinker. The nature of God's Love is Freedom,Truth, Compassion, Beauty, Unity, Giving, Receiving, and Forgiving.

I'm tired now....surely this is a bad dream in a bad dream. I'll sleep for now because I think I heard the terror alert is now orange......bull%#*...we have nothing to fear but fear itself - False Evidence Appearing Real.. You have not been given the spirit of fear. BROTHER CAN'T YOU HEAR ME? I Love You.

WAKEUPWORLDYOUAREBEINGENSLAVED!
- Maybe life was better when we didn't have so much technology and used transistor radios for information; at least we were blinded to "THE MAN" at work around the world. That way, we didn't have to see with our natural eyes and didn't have to choose to look around us to SEE us ignorantly being used!

……….MAYBE I'll continue later -igman’111407

[1] See A Documentary History, Third Edition, by Leslie H. Fishel, Jr. and Benjamin Quarles, Scott, Foresman and Company, Illinois, 1976,1970
[2] See KOYAANISQATSI

BIG MONEY CONTROLS BIG GOVERNMENT as Democrats and Republicans alike are doing nothing to end this madness.

2007-10-17T05:27:00.001-06:00

.....peace comes when the power of love replaces the love of power. – Jimi Hendrix

AWAKEN NOW AND PROTEST CITIZEN!

……he was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way, the continuity was not broken. “It is not by being heard, but by staying sane, that we carry on the human heritage.” To the future or to the past, to a time where thought is free…when men are different from one another and do not live alone….to a time when truth exist and what is done cannot be undone. From the age of uniformity…from the age of solitude…from the age of Big Brother….from the age of doublethink[1], Greetings! He was already dead, he reflected. It seemed to him that it was only now, when he had begun to formulate his thoughts, that he had taken the decisive step. The consequences of every act are included in the act itself. He wrote, “thought crime does not entail death. thought-crime is death.” [2]

- the character Winston Smith, from 1984 by George Orwell.
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Government uses the tools of placation[3] to dupe ordinary Americans. It then speaks in the languages of doublespeak[4] and newspeak[5] and duckspeak[6] as it methodically removes the public’s ability to think. A typical example of this is convincing the characters that in order to have the freedom of a civilized society they are required to be slaves to their dictatorial regime. For example, “giving up our rights for freedom.” What?
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"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power....We are different from all the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing....We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship....But always -- do not forget this, Winston -- always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. - 1984 , Orwell
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Might I remind us of the consolidation and controlling interests of the press and other media sources that is taking place, into the clutches of a few meglamyopic corporations? [largest media companies.]

The media today sound-bites us and distract our attention toward issues that have no true substantive value. Is that freedom of the press? Is that the role of the press?

What freedom of the press? The media all seem to say the same things about issues that really matter – NOTHING! They're too busy with Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith and sport and fashion......And the public can’t get enough....beeee.....beeeee.....beeee.......they sadly babbled amongst themselves, as if helpless sheep being herded in unison by the harp of a totalitarian-like conductor [government]. AWAKEN CITIZENS!

I’ll close with this clarion call of appeal to Citizens of America that have knowledge of the United States's Constitution and the ideals which led to its design [which by the way is the true target of this wayward government's corrupt ideology to remove rights from the people], -with a few quotations from Thomas Jefferson, – remember him?

“…our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” - 1/28/1786
“….nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper [television]; truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.” - 6/11/1807
“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.” - 1-8-1789

GEM101607 * (This blog will end my Orwellian inferences.) - [my example of the doublespeak virus as an epidemic at work - smile?]

[1] Doublethink is the act of holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously, fervently believing both; doublethink is so necessary is that it allows the masses to accept being slaves to the system and under total surveillance, while considering themselves free and independent.
[2] An alarm to the citizen – AWAKEN. – gman.101607
[3] placate – to appease, pacify, to allay the anger of, to be more favorably inclined, to gain the good will of;
[4] Doublespeak is language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often resulting in a communication bypass. ...
[5] newspeak - a constant process of slimming down language in order to limit peoples ability to communicate and ultimately think
[6] Duckspeak is the breaking down language into repetitive mottos – “Cut and Run”, “Swift Boats”,

Orwell and Republicanism2006

2006-10-29T08:03:00.002-07:00

The Grand Old Party is surely old and over said the Government Of Desperately Duped People?

circa Orwell 1984
Attention everyone......The telescreen struck fourteen. He (Winston) must leave in ten minutes. He had to be back at work by fourteen-thirty. The voice from the telescreen paused. A trumpet call, clear and beautiful, floated into the stagnant air. The voice continued raspingly:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Winston wrote….
To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone -- to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink -- greetings! He was already dead, he reflected. It seemed to him that it was only now, when he had begun to be able to formulate his thoughts, that he had taken the decisive step. The consequences of every act are included in the act itself.

He wrote:
Thoughtcrime does not entail death:
Thoughtcrime IS death.
Winston sank his arms to his sides and slowly refilled his lungs with air. His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink......

Doublethink
To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink.

Orwell’s Ministry of Truth portends The Republican Party Leadership

Doublethink is now the call of the day......Having been in the Presidential Office for six years with the luxury of a majority in the House and in the Senate, the Republican Party seems totally incapable of governing this nation. They were ushered into office with a mandate of the populace, with themselves swearing to reform government, restore moral and family values, and to make America strong again. What they now leave us with is a multi-trillion dollar budget deficit, an unpopular war in Iraq that was started based on a multitude of coordinated lies regarding weapons of mass destruction and fighting the front of terrorism, voting irregularities, moral scandals, inappropriate political/business dealings with lobbyists, Nosama Bin Laden capture, an unstable Middle East, a fractionalized Western coalition, a hapless bungler of foreign policy, and on it goes. He touts having cut taxes but the result of the cuts are fewer jobs and more government debt due to an unbalanced budget.

Yet still, they ask for more years in office. To do WHAT? Are there new proposals for solutions of this current malaise one might ask? “Stay the course" they say. Stay the course? Don’t they even realize we’re off-course? And now that it’s time for mid-term elections, they resort to doing what they do best…..negative mudslinging using specious sound-bite advertising that has worked for them in the past because the general public has resorted to receiving their news knowledge from trusted advisors like Limbaugh, O'Reilly and Hannity, each pundits who've found a way to make a superior living beyond their acumen. They couldn't debate a good high school debate team. Yes, they rally the call of the wild from the Speakright media horn, helping ensconce more "kindler, gentler conservatives into office again and again.

Let’s face it right now -

This Republican administration can't be trusted with governing anymore! How could government get so bungaled? Did they promise too much and now owe too much to too many?

In the past, they’ve known how to get elected using Newspeak, the language of The Ministry of Truth……nonetruth. Negative...negative…..negative……negative. Who cares about actual truth even when the evidence stares them blatantly in the face and the opposition criticizes them for their ineptness? They resort to more Newspeak of carefully-crafted sound bites, reconstructing and misrepresenting known fact while calling the diminished opposition non-patriots, cut-and-runners, and other adolescent phrases that resound throughout their political base in a “tipping-point fashion.” Their view of defending democracy and only their view is much maligned with the Party view from Orwell’s 1984 where the constituencies responses have become a chorus of agreement for whatever course The Party has chosen by simply stating…..B..B-B…..B, over and over again in agreement….B…B…B...like babbling sheep. You dare not think and formulate your own thoughts; only The Party has vision and controls The Ministry of Truth.

From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

....But the face of Big Brother seemed to persist for several seconds on the screen, as though the impact that it had made on everyone's eyeballs was too vivid to wear off immediately. 'Reality control', they called it: [in Newspeak, 'doublethink']

ce=Verdana size=2>

....The little sandy haired woman had flung herself forward over the back of the chair in front of her. With a tremulous murmur that sounded like 'My Saviour!' she extended her arms towards the screen. Then she buried her face in her hands. It was apparent that she was uttering a prayer. At this moment the entire group of people broke into a deep, slow, rhythmical chant of 'B-B! ...B-B!' -- over and over again, very slowly, with a long pause between the first 'B' and the second-a heavy, murmurous sound, somehow curiously savage, in the background of which one seemed to hear the stamp of naked feet and the throbbing of tom-toms. For perhaps as much as thirty seconds they kept it up. It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion. Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise. Winston's entrails seemed to grow cold. In the Two Minutes Hate he could not help sharing in the general delirium, but this sub-human chanting of 'B-B! ...B-B!' always filled him with horror. Of course he chanted with the rest: it was impossible to do otherwise. To dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction.

Fellow Americans, this condition we’re in is not the result of bad American values but of "bad judgment." We are not minions of the state that are in need of being spied upon to protect us. Can we on one hand defend our way of life while with the other hand attempt to take away our liberties which are our way of life? We need not fight totalitarianism, only to succumb to the slipery slope of a symbiosis of the very thing we fight.

What happened to Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death call?" No, we haven't forgoten 9-11-2001! We'll get our enemies. But we are still a courageous people who's president once said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I recently read a comment in The Memphis Flyer newspaper stating that President Bush's comments would probably have been - "the only thing we have to fear is.......everything?" That's fear-based politics.

Thought Police

And what about the eavesdropping intrusions; are they to be the beginning of the need for a Thought Police as in 1984? The government is accountable to us. We hold them accountable through a functional democracy with a corresponding right to vote candidates and administrations into office and out of office. We are free to criticize them when their policies won't hold water. The time has come to boot the dominant party decision-makers out of office and let’s get some new, maybe even more youthful visionaries of a brighter tomorrow into elected offices for posterity sake.Let’s forget allegiances. This time, vote the better candidate, even if the man or woman is a Democrat, Republican, or an Independent, should they be so deserving. Yes, this is a referendum. This administration is not deserving a re-election or the support that came with it.

Don't you hear the bell of freedom ringing?

I’m voting for CHANGE! Join me.

When Knowledge Reins Absent

2006-09-16T12:06:00.002-06:00

Are the people destroyed for a lack of knowledge?

The problems are not DNA!

While driving through the Heavenly Hollow area in Memphis to give my sister a lift to the beauty shop, my antenna was up and receiving conscious signals being fired from my subconscious mind about the current condition of a once vibrant community.

What happened to Heavenly Hollow I wondered? This was a fine middle-class neighborhood where other communities came to shop. Now many find themselves trapped here colloquially know it as “Heavenly Hood”, a slang for neighborhoods inside impoverished communities where disorder exist.

The big box retail stores were boarded-up, the quaint shops were abandoned, the fine-eating establishments were now replaced with fast food eateries, the flower beds and well-manicured lawns were the exception and the economy now seemed to revolve around hair affairs, Chinese food, and chicken wing establishments. Lots of chicken wing places. Was there some contest to see who made the best ones? And the convenience stores run by immigrants selling gasoline in increments of $5.00 worth. The pawnshops and check-cashing locations now replaced banks. Small clothing shops opened to satisfy the all important apparrel wear. Yes, the mainstream businesses had left to follow the "mass-money trail," but this was phenomenal decay. Who owned these ghost-inhabited buildings? How do they pay for them? Yet some stayed – Walgreens and Kroger. Food and drugs. Thank you. I'd seen these image in Manytown, USA.

There is also the miasma of increasing violence and crime - random gunfire - gang behavior - and subsequent psunami-like wake of death and destruction.

Now these depictions by no means represent the majority of the community members. They too want good things for their families. It is the subjective minority within the community whose parasitic force act against the community that bring havoc. Their actions upon the community at large deliver the negative messages. They prey upon the majority with growing success enticing the young with self-delusional deceptions of wealth, power, and fear.

They and their new luxury cars and $5000 spinning wheels, old cars and $5,000 spinning wheels, sonic boom speakers that vibrate the glass secured by bondo, blasting vulgar raps not so they can hear them but so others can see them who blast the sounds. And society at large is there to offer up these trapping symbols to them - of course at a giant profit. What happens when the $1500 tires need replacing, or the $1200 wheel is bent? No, its about "what's happening now." Right now!

These lost young and their "misplaced symbols of wealth," are the purveying forces of ignorance. They are the hosts and carriers of the epidemic. They can't find their way in the mainstream for more reasons than their own. Are they victims? Of course! Do they adapt? Of course! And then they replicate their values with new rules in a subculture for own survival. This is the reality. And the majority, whether they are trapped in the community or they are observing the decay and run to new communities, we must deal with them. Why? Because they export values.

As I drove, I could feel in the air – an invisible force – leaving clear visible evidence of a value change - a sort of behaviorial pattern - an attitudal essence that sought to control thought. This “force” was like an invisible fog of malevelence about the community. It was creeping in and over and around. Though it wasn't pervasive throughout the community, it was certainly invasive at an alarming rate. Clearly the community was becoming collectively unconscious of it. As it was being allowed to rein it was fast becoming the collective consciousness. Mainly because not enough citizens were utilizing the power available to each of us. Or they weren't aware of it.

Power overcomes force because it is a presence whose content of energy is inherent and inexhaustible. Logarithmically greater! But "no one had noticed the candy wrapper being thrown out the automobile window." It was such a small thing that it really didn't seem to matter. Now, all can see the mountainous residual effects when we are collectively unconscious to the incremental root causes of our condition and are not united to combat them.

There was also an oasis in the midst of this consciousness – a church that seemed to breathe and broadcast to the community of the availability of a new direction for our life experience. We don't have to wait to die to have abundant life. It was a voice of hope. "But too many of us look for miracles from somewhere else." Yes, there are many, many churches in the area with collective memberships that far outnumber the social deviants, so this can't be a war of being out-numbered by the perpetrators of disorder.

This epiphany of the church, which has played a leadership role in our community for so long, leads me to paradoxical conflict more fitting another discussion. But my cognitive dissonance from this state will serve us well to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to at least modify our existing beliefs, so as to reduce the amount of dissonance (conflict) between our cognition regarding collective consciousness.

Now this thesis is really about hope and the energy to power that hope toward the life of our own direction. But do we have direction or are we simply present – existing – waiting for miraculous transformation? What role have we played thusfar in our shaping of who we are and our conditional existence? Can we play a more-leading and shaping role? Must we live life prescribed by others or one described by ourselves? Are we left to be bound by aberant forces in our immediate community or even the larger community of humanity? How can we liberate ourselves from this condition we find ourselves? In the absence of light do we only live to curse the darkness? There is no profit to be gained there.

No. We must search for Light that illuminates our very existence. When we are made aware of our internal Light, given to us by God, we can gain broader and deeper understanding of that Light. It presents itself as raw powerful presence called Energy. We can then find the pathway and utilize the energizing power to move from the turmoil of our unwanted conditions. When we allow our internal light to shine externally to be seen and patterned by others, we help to make them powerful. That is the awareness of the relationship between us and our environment, which is consciousness, and when others see it and pattern themselves via behavior, its infectious nature is passed on to yet others and is then deemed collective consciousness.

Every little bit of change affects collective consciousness. Take the notion that by throwing a small piece of paper wrapping from a candy mint out your car window – it would seem that it doesn’t really matter. It’s just a small piece of paper. Then it becomes a coffee cup…then a burger wrapper…then a bag of food wrappings…then a bag of garbage…then an old sofa…then an abandoned car…and so on. Malcolm Gladwell described this behavioral pattern as the “broken window syndrome” in his book The Tipping Point about how small changes become large because it appears no one cares and the behavior becomes infectious.

In his book Virus of The Mind, Richard Brodie wrote about memes, which were stated to be the basic building blocks of our minds and culture, in the same way that genes are the basic building blocks of biological life. These memes are invisible packets of information that can be transferred from one being to another. These packets contain definitions and behavioral traits inside them. There are good memes and bad memes. The good or the bad – not in its usual context – but good or bad in its ability to attract attention itself and therein, extend its existence by replication to another person or group. There are several exciting conclusions in exploring memology, one of which is the ability to predict that ideas will spread not because they are "good ideas", but because they contain "good memes" such as danger, food and sex that push our evolutionary buttons and force us to pay attention to them.

According to ‘Emile Durkheim, the French social scientist, individual desires are limitless and constrained only by external social forces. These bounds constitute the collective consciousness, which is embodied in a culture's formal and informal norms and values. These are expressed in a variety of ways, ranging from codified rules and laws (eg, speed limits on the highway), to more informal rules that exist only in the heads of the culture that shares the collective (eg, it's polite to cover your mouth when you sneeze). These shared norms provide common ideological ground for members of a society, and ensure that members act in agreed-upon ways. Parents - this is why our children often behave counter-intuitively to the way we taught them - that in the subculture - they have to agree with it to be "cool".

Durkheim defined the term anomie as a condition where social and/or moral norms are confused, unclear, or simply not present. Durkheim felt that this lack of norms--or pre-accepted limits on behavior in a society--led to deviant behavior. If left unabated, it could become the norm.

We are now left to deal with the consequences of a lack of awareness of our self, our consciousness, our collective consciousness and our individual role in collective consciousness. In the Heavenly Hollow example, we have seen how these consequences occur and even behaviorial traits are transmitted to each other to formulate cultural patterns that seem to retard our progress in our life experience. We must still deal with being human and living human lives, which is our human condition of anomie.

There are many more worthy narratives of greater human suffering that seem genocidal and this is certainly not one of them. But surely, we can see the tendencies that incubate homicide of the human spirit.

So, can we change our experience? And if so, how do we begin to change our human conditional state? The short answer is yes, we can clean up the Heavenly Hollows of our lives, but we must first attend to the ‘Heavenly Hoods’ and their root causes.

I mean no offense by the effrontery of this statement: Ignorance is the diseased collective consciousness of our Heavenly Hollow community's current condition. The conditions of our communities are “not at ease” but are troubled and said simply – Dis ·eased.

Ignorance is the root cause of our condition, as we have now become incubators for ignorance, bound by its infectious, communicative, destructive memology. This aphorism is not an indictment but rather an enlightenment. We can improve the condition of our communities.

We have identified the enemy. To know the enemy is to begin to conquer it - Ignorance. Our bodies were shackled and incarcerated by unjust men of ill repute: they themselves unconscious contradictions or worse, conscious contradictions (liars) of what they espoused.

Their tools used for incarceration was unjust law, made and delivered by non-virtuous men. Ironically, the weaponry for perpetual incarceration is the same tool for liberation – our minds.

And the spirit of the law that non-virtuous men use is subordinate and subjected to the Law of The Spirit that remain inside every man or woman. It is The Light Source for abundant energy. It is there for each of our destinies to be made manifest. It must be AWAKENED!

We have now identified the enemies, their tools, and their jails. We have jarred the door and it is cracked open. The current condition of our of our minds presently keep us enslaved. We will renew and illuminate our minds. Dr. A.R. Bernard of Rochester, New York once quoted in Memphis - "Spiritual renewal is always followed by economic revitalization." That was his way of say, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His Righteous and all these things will be added unto you. - Matthew 6:33

Our organization is THE EUREKA SOCIETY and it is committed to assisting with a process toward Light Illumination. We advocate many non-conventional methodologies, but by no means unique ones, as our elemental foundations. We advocate Universal Laws, such as The Law of Attraction, The Law of Deliberate Co-creation, and The Law of Allowing, to help us to know why things come to us, our role in helping them to come to us indiscriminately or deliberately, and why our use of judgment keep helpful solutions away from us. Then we practice how to get the things we want for our lives.

I realize how unreal this must sound to most people. Just honestly ask yourself if you’ve been getting what you’ve been desiring for your life and those you love? Why not add to your arsenal of understanding by becoming an Advocate for Radical ChangeS. It can be a beautifully mysterious and joyful journey.

Do not get in a hurry. You never arrive. You only journey. Allow it and let us begin –
gman

THE EUREKA SOCIETY illuminates our faith in God by God’s faith in our abilities to use His engrafted gifts on our Life journey. Take the spiritual journey to understand more of your powerful gift-ability. Find us at http://arcsinbusiness.com/The Eureka Society.htm

Enemies of The Ununited State

2006-09-15T20:39:00.001-06:00

The article previously shared was Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott! Thanks for the update. I read the Citgo email and further researched it to find that Congress was discussing this matter in February 2006.

Though I didn't know Citgo was the distribution arm for Venezulan oil, I'm not surprised by it. I am aware of Chavez of Venezula and his presidency (dictatorship). One of the first things tyrants do when they take over a country is to nationalize the resourses. His relationships with Fidel Castro as well as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinemad is well documented. Their idealogies, though different, are of basic fundamentalism morphed with facism to become their synthesis of the day in this connected world we live in. Yes they are ememies of democracy, avowed to destroy us. We are right to be aware of our enemies and the means of financing their causes. But we should not fear them or their avowed actions. Fear allows ignorance to rule.

A more succinct threat to our democracy and way of life is the current "trodding on our US Constitution" by our current Administration in the Whitehouse. President Bush is being led by tyranist of their own making and for their own greedy purposes, under the guises of national security. And the American people are buying it because they are allowing the ignorance of fear to rule. This administration is not the first to make this intrusion, nor will they be the last. The intrusions are not limited to Party affiliation. But when they are sanctioned by The Party, then that Party must be held accountable.

I suggest, we as citizens should become more active in the elective process and become more knowledgeable of the freedoms we hold sacred. We must exercise our voting rights to send a message of our dissatisfaction with the direction our country is being led by its elected officials. We are TRUE PATRIOTS when we call to action our citizens. AWAKEN NOW! Tennessee Waltz? Let's have a Washington Waltz! Should we fail to act to abate the constitutional erosion taking place, "the levies will surely break" and we will become wards of the morass called "the ununited state of america." Therein will our enemies have been allowed to win, not through our physical demise but through the death of our freedoms and ideology of The American Way - FREE THINKING.

Liberty is the target of our enemies, whether they are outside our borders or inside them. Truly, "barbarians are already inside the gates. Let's get them out, whether they call themselves Republicans, Democrats, conservative, liberal, left or right. We The People are the guardians of Liberty. The true lynchpin to our demise will surely be the ambivalent attitudes of our citizenry.

Please pardon the intrusion of this email by becoming a resounding voice of democracy for ourselves and our children's future. If you are so inspirted, share this email with others without alteration or, "just ruminating it will elevate your own consciousness by avoiding ossification."

We can have a world where as Colin Powell said to President Reagan in a national security presidential briefing, "the world is quiet today, Mr. President."

gman

“Democracies depend more on moral ideas than non-democratic societies do, because they depend on the free choices of their citizens. For their very survival, they must shape ordinary people into an extraordinary moral force.” - Irving Kristol

2005-06-16T04:33:00.000-06:00

GEM

Beyond The Shadows

2005-03-26T12:06:00.001-07:00

Beyond The Shadows - Gman

I stare,
Yeah.
From the window of despair
A reflection of the true
Trapped
Alone.
No course to bear –
Just there
What image is this I see?
A man – longing free
Bound and bothered
To carry me
To places I can never know
Nowhere to go –
So
On I show
Wandering ..
Wondering…
Wishing to shout
No!
Not this way!
If I could only say –
Today.
But now…
My time has come
To fear the rising sun
Unable to run…
Again.
Lost beyond the shadow.

Reqeium for Gem

2004-11-21T10:25:00.007-07:00

At some conspicuous moment, one must examine a life lived and determine whether it is lived consciously or unconsciously. This meaning to take a preemptive role or to take a reactive role; this process requires extreme disciplines of mind and courage to seek the true of the self.

Before inception, a prescriptive life is readied for us by those expecting our birth. Our role seemingly becomes that of an actor, seeking to gain favor of his audience. And our audience each seems to gain some influence upon us. Alternatively, a descriptive life offers an active development of our own lives; who we are and what we’d like to accomplish with our life lease is kept under our own self-direction when we are ready. The nature of life is freedom. Love is freedom. Let us look inside ourselves to begin our liberation and journey a life of freedom . - igman

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Lao Tzu
“Life is what is happening now while you are busy making plans. Capture this moment.” - J. Autry

....Gem wanted to live; yet today he dies. Stand witness to the death of Gem; a citizen of an unseen land of Love. He dwelled in Love, the city of good abode, where the doctrine of love actually exists; a place where love is not a metaphor but actually the sustenance of life itself; a place of destination whose purpose is to be richly and abundantly enjoyed and not some nebulous state of being to be sought; for there can be no need to seek when love is purely existent.

Gem revelled, madly in love with life in this land. Here, he was free to co-create with the awesome power of love. Here he could build with one purpose; that is for the betterment of the citizens. Ah yes citizens. Where are the citizens? “I’m lonely in this place of love and I need someone to share it with,” Gem lamented. But in this land, the power of love has no ability to create citizens.

“I must seek citizens, but from where do I get them? Oh yes, now I remember…I must again get on the road less traveled and go back to the land of prescription and lead others to this place. “But what will I say to tell them about this place and how can I make them know that this land really does exist?” “How will they know that I’m not a quack who’s lost his faculties?” “Will they think differently of me than the “preacher” on the street corner, addressing no one in particular, but empowered no less to get his message out?” “How did I find this place?”

Gem began writing his own words about experiences he'd found true and valid from his own spiritual existence in the physical world. His journey began not outside himself but inside. Great vision is borne looking deeply inside. After understanding is gained from this continually insightful look, only then can we truly see and find the power to reach the “better place.” Only then can we acquire “long-seeing” vision.

With great difficulty and trepidation, Gem empowered himself by seeking knowledge, realizing that others had plodded this course before him and he could learn from them. He would be careful not to merely accept the prescription of others, but to contemplate and meditate on the knowledge for understanding. Gem had to find that which he believes for himself or that belief to which he could consciously surrender himself toward. He must find “his state of awareness” and become receptive to his findings. He must understand that he is not special being able to find and utilize insightful power. That power is available to any who seek knowledge of it. It lies latent and dormant, waiting to be activated. That will be his message to attract citizens to his beloved land. He would attract and lead them back one person at a time.

Gem circulated his writings and the writings of others to whet the appetite of the curious. But finding the curious would become his undoing. He sought dialog with those who would appear enlightened but consistently found their true interest level to be minimal and mostly nonexistent. He shared his insights with those who had never given much thought of his perspective, as well as those who were educated and had good intellectual stimulation ability; surely to find hope reigning eternal with them but that was all they wanted to do....hope. Yet the same lack of interest resulted. “Why, I can’t even gain the attention of those in my own household. It seems everyone is busy trying to make plans for the next life or too busy struggling, trying to live in this one."

Finding an audience was more difficult than he’d planned. “At this rate, I’ll be lonely forever in my beloved land.” Perhaps my message lacks the impetus to attract attention. Maybe I'm not a good messenger.”

What is the message you ask? The message is "how do you determine the truth about life, reality, and the powers we have to accomplish things? What role if any does imagination, belief, and expectation play if any? Do you take action on your dreams to make them come true."

This message isn’t wishful thinking; it’s the way things have always been done. It's not because of lucky breaks, or silver spoons, or always knowing the right people or practicing the right religion. We just need to understand the principles and concepts that have been shared since the beginning of time about stating and beleiving in our intention to create the life we imagine. There is an unlimited abundance of power, energy, and people to assist us in doing so. Our dreams are not momentary accidents of brainwaves. They are exactly what is meant to be. Yet, we have a role in making our dreams reality. Understanding the laws that govern dream manifestation can be learned. Untold others' have done just that. They learn to respect the power of Love.

Think of the most successful people in our society. Are they all smarter than you or do you believe they are smarter than you? Are they more deserving? Have they paid more dues? Whether through intelligence or accident, they engage these universal principles and laws. Anyone else can do the same. If you let this opportunity go by, there will be others. But how much longer should you wait and keep struggling to live trying to get ahead?

Discover your intentions and the laws that await your taking action?

Maybe I am like the man on the corner preaching to no one!”

After years of dialogs, speeches, articles, and essays, Gem grew weary. Not only was he lonely for his beloved land; he was now lonely in this one. But he couldn’t go back without at least one citizen. As time passed, he slowly became ostracized from those around him. He found himself feeling the void in life and not the abundance. He was constantly told of the years he had wasted not doing this and that. He was forever reminded of his previous indiscretions. Never was there a moment for celebration or jubilation for just making it wherever we are at this moment. Wasn’t that an accomplishment? Did Gem play a role in getting here, or was this yet another non-existential miracle without any order or discipline? Unlikely.

As another year grinded to an end, Gem decided to attend a gathering during the holidays. He would do a little PR and leave after a short period. Then as suddenly as he had decided to leave, a brief encounter led to a surprising eureka moment. An audience. He met someone who was interesting and interested. There was no real need to position the dialog because it was already flowing so freely. At long last, communication…connection…someone willing to journey inside on the road less traveled. Someone to return to the beloved land of Love…someone with which to co-create....so they embarked to the city of Love.

Gem found living to be greater than ever. Joy returned. Sharing, giving, receiving…. creating…all a part of the land where love reigns supreme. This new citizen was more than he’d dreamed. This citizen was…. what was her name…uh…uh…it ...oh....it was his responsibility to name her…what shall it be? What represents her best…. ok.she’s free.free…fancy free…I have it…. FANCY!

Fancy brought new heights to Gem. Fancy made the sun shine brighter. Gem inspired Fancy. Together, they made miracles. Yet Fancy was troubled and longed for the old things. They couldn’t exist forever in this land alone. There were all-to-frequent trips to the physical world where other responsibilities exist for each of them. Then as suddenly as they’d become citizens of Love, the physical realities reappeared. The boundaries of the physical laws separated them. These laws had no power in this land of Love, so it was necessary to return to the land of the physical/prescriptive, where the tools of separation are abundant. There, these tools could forge distance between the citizens.

Gem sought to compromise but Fancy’s ability to detach was already activated. No compromise. “It’s for the best,” she said. Fancy gained confidence in her decision. She gained support from the descriptive laws. She closed the door on her citizenship in the land of Love, and would hold onto it as a memory.

Gem, who was created just for Fancy, and was named by Fancy, lacked the energy to sustain himself. His raging fire now only flickered. Gem didn’t want to go back to his beloved land of Love with any other citizen. Gem had lost Fancy and Gem was now dying of heartbreak. His thousand-mile journey had ended. Life was not what is happening now while we are busy making plans; for there is now no moment to capture….

Then gem died.

“To dream anything that you want to dream. That’s the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.”
– Bernard Edmonds

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.”
– Mahatma Ghandi