Endgame: Trump Impeachment

I know a lot of folks are asking this of you these days and, as the ever-worn saying goes; hear me out. For the party whose elected leadership resoundingly rejected Mr. Trump as their candidate during the Republican primary and reluctantly accepted Mr. Trump as their President elect, this might possibly be the best-case endgame for them and all of us.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Mr. Trump appears to be slowly sinking into, what I would guess to be, the first of many political & personal quagmires that will come to identify his Presidency. on Jan. 10th, CNN broke this news:

“Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multipl US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.” – CNN.com Jan. 10, 2017

That last part means the folks that leaked this information to CNN are members of the Republican Senate who have been briefed on the classified information. In December, long-time Republican leaders, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- SC) pushed hard for a bi-partisan special committee to look further into the allegations and reports being put together by US intelligence agencies. Both have sinced back off as it has become clear that the Republican leadership would not be apointing any such committee. However, if the allegations of potential incriminating information come to light and are true, they may not have a choice.

The outcome of such a committee in combination with the potential truth to the conceivable blackmail by a hostile foriegn government, of a sitting US President due to incredulous and shady business deals, would land Mr. Trump squarely in the impeachment seat; and that would be the very best scenario for the Republican leadership holding the power in the US Congress and Senate today.

It honestly should come as no suprise to you, no matter what your political leanings, that Mr. Trump is a loaded, lit and loose cannon. That may have been appealing and refreshing to you two months ago or even now but I assure you, it is going to stop be refreshing and become all but rancid in your mouth within the first year of a Trump Presidency. Forget his rouge twitter account or his poor attitude towards anyone and everyone. I assure you, this man will face an impeachment hearing lead by his own party at some point in the next four years because, simply put, his is incredulous.

The best case scenario for conservatives and liberals alike, but most of all the conservatives, is the removal of Mr. Trump as soon as possible from the Presidency of the United States. Not on the basis that they don’t like him: No, nothing nearly so trivial. On the basis that in the near future, it will come to light that he has already or soon will commit fraud, perjury and/or compromise himself against the position of power he has been elected to (If it hasn’t already). That simply can not stand but more importantly, and to the point, the unpredictable and untrustworthy leader of the most powerful party in the nation will no longer stand in the way or serve as a distraction to the Republican leadership.

The party that now controls both the Senate and the House will also resoundingly control the executive branch with a longtime insider they can trust. Vice President Mike Pence has served the Republican Party for 17 years. Elected to congress in 2000, he served there until 2013. In 2009, Mr. Pence served as the chairman of the House Republican Conference and in 2013 became the Republican Governer of Indiana. “A Christian, a conservative and a Republican”, Mr. Pence is not off the wall candidate with unpredictable political leanings. He is a stalwart party member and next in line for the US Presidency; should Mr. Trump find himself removed from office by the party that put him there.

Logical speculations could lead us to the conclusion that Republican leadership is not only very aware of the deeper implications against Mr. Trump but called off the demands for an independent committee in order to bide there time. Prior to Mr. Trump’s inauguration, there are no strategic opportunities for removing him from his office. In fact, awaiting his inauguration before delivering the hammer blow could explain the rushed and casual approach being taken with cabinet nominees; why jump through the hoops if they are all fired in the coming months anyway. It may even explain Mr. Trump’s continued preoccupation with bullying, bad mouthing & bitching on twitter while avoiding his pre-presidency duties because as he stared dumbfounded at the election results on the evening of November 8th, he knew in his tiny heart of hearts, there was no way he was going to ever see that Oval Office.

UPDATE: June 4th 2020 – I was wrong. He is bullet proof.

You Were On Your Way Home – (Reprinted)

Author – Andy Weir

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a  wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?”You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you god?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife,” you said.

“What about them?”

“Will they be all right?”

“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”

You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”

“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”

“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”

“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,”

“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”

You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”

“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”

“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”

I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. 

“Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.”

“You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”

“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”

“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”

“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”

“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”

“Where you come from?” You said.

“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”

“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”

“So what’s the point of it all?”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.

I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”

“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”

“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”

“Just me? What about everyone
else?”

“There is no one else,” I said.“In this universe, there’s just you and me.”

You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”

“All you. Different incarnations of you.”

“Wait. I’m everyone!?”

“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.

“I’m every human being who ever lived?”

“Or who will ever live, yes.”

“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”

“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.

“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.

“And you’re the millions he killed.”

“I’m Jesus?”

“And you’re everyone who followed him.”

You fell silent.

“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

You thought for a long time.

“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”

“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”

“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”

“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”

“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”

“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”

And I sent you on your way. 

Originally found on http://www.tickld.com/x/this-guy-just-changed-the-way-we-think-about-godandtheuniverse

The Zoetic Methods

The Practices of Personal Awakening for Collective Transformation

Zoetic: adjective  zo·et·ic  \zōˈetik\

1. of or relating to life :  living, vita

It is universally understood, at least in an intuitive sense, that human beings are a trinity unto themselves: Mind, body & spirit. This is referred to in many self-help settings as well as spiritual disciplines and even the soft-sciences of psychology and  consciousness studies.

What isn’t well understood is the interplay between these distinctly individual and self-evidently conjoined parts of the being. There is a fair bit of conjecture and even some hard science as too how our physical health plays into the psychological well-being of an individual. It is arguable that entire ‘religious disciplines focus on the root to the spiritual self through means of physiological manifestation: yoga or meditative practices for instance.

However, because the observational data of the connection and distinction between mind, body & spirit move from empirical evidence to ‘woo-woo’, the relationship is left undefined and even questionable. I contend that we live in an age where the empirical and the woo-woo are quickly blending through a manifold of emerging scientific study and a significant uptick in personal practice of Zoetic arts: That is the art of manifesting life through individual and collective practices.
Studies are rapidly emerging on the scene that demonstrate this power. The synthesis work done by Shawn Achor in his book The Happiness Advantage, he demonstrates the science behind a positive outlook on life and the correlating effects on an individual’s psychological and physiological self.  The 2008 Harvard study by Dr. David R. Hamilton, PhD looked at the Relaxation Response found in meditation, tai chi and repetitive prayer and documented the affects it had on human DNA. The HeartMath Institute’s study of the hearts electromagnetic field and the ability to put one’s self into a state of coherence in order enhance personal performance and manage stress: Stress being recently correlated with inflammation within the body and a leading causes of death in the US.

Juxtapose that work with the massive popularization of yogic and sutra practices across North America. According to the latest study from the Yoga Journal, the number of individual practicing yoga in the US has risen 20% from 2008 to 2012: From 15.8 million self-identified practitioners to 20.4 million. 44.8% of whom identified themselves as beginners. However, even as an introduction to practices, that number is remarkable.

The context for its remark-ability exist in the ancient roots of the yogic practices as a means of achieving balance between the mind, body and spirit and as a method of achieving meditative states through physical manifestation: Breath work, yogic poses and the movement of blood through the body. Thought to have been developed beyond the period of Vedic record keeping; the practice was adopted by both the Hindu and Buddhist religions and only very recently westernized.

Total US Organic Sales & Growth 2004 – 2014

We also find ourselves in a time where our food responsiveness is on the rise. As the prospect of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) increasingly infiltrate our food systems and awareness campaigns gain momentum; average citizens have begun to take the matter of personal nutrition into their own hands. The Organic Trade Association reports 2015 sales exceeding $39 billion with a steady rise in consumption of organic goods over non-organic since 2008.

When taken together, with the number of people that these practices are reaching, not only in the US but globally, it can easily be called an awakening: But an awakening to what?

Though many might argue with this answer; I’m not sure it matters. It has become my personal practice to seek the right questions rather than seek the right answers. In doing so, I’ve discovered that seeking ‘the questions’ open one to the realm of possibilities whereas seeking ‘the answer’ close one off towards desiring certainty; and nothing is certain in this world.

Therefore, we are left to look at the values of such an awakening and determine our bias based on the evidenced of the fruit it might bear. If people are growing in their awareness of personal health, the benefits of physical exercise, the either conscious or unconscious effects of yoga on personal well-being and becoming empowered towards the benefit of managing their own food intake and production – then I would say the value-outcomes are fairly positive.

As an exercise in comparison, let’s look at the available opposite behaviors and their value-outcomes: As an example – fast or poor food choices, excessive alcohol use, excessive media intake, a lack of physical exercise and an absents of any sort of spiritual practice or disciple that merits tangible physiological results or spiritual growth. These behaviors are not difficult to identify in our world. We only need to look within ourselves and there isn’t a single individual in our western world that cannot identify with one of these behaviors and its negative effects on the well-being.

This is where the Zoetic Methods emerged from. Zoetics is acknowledgement and assembly of the variety of emerging personal practices that have historical precedence & modern relevance for creating transformation and ongoing awakening in individuals. I contend that without any need for the creation of a new system of belief, faith or religion – the tools exist to better ourselves and thereby, our world today. These tools can be gleaned and learned from a variety of sources globally and historically. These are sources that do not demand a conversion of faith or a rebirth of religion. Your belief systems can stay intact but your interconnectedness to others through empathetic learning of these methods can weave a unification around the world.

The Zoetic Methods: Practices for the enhancement and acknowledgement of the life that dwells within all of us; are tangible and simple. They only require you to be willing and to begin. These are the 12 disciplines of the Zoetic Method:

The Inward Disciplines

• Meditation: True meditative practices are not a psychological trick but a practice of grace in the face of distraction. Meditation centers the true-self by eliminating the noise of the egoic mind and connecting with the silent-voice of self: the I Am within each of us.

• Fasting: Thousands of religions and cultures throughout history have practices fasting as a means of creating discipline within the body and build spiritual resilience. Contrary to modern understanding of the practice, fasting is about confronting our attachments rather than controlling our habits.

• Positive Perspective: Cultivating a mental constitution of thankfulness, appreciation and positive perspectives as the foundational mental model one works from is essential to building emotional and spiritual endurance. Adversity is only a moment away. Approaching these inevitable circumstances with a thankful being can change everything.

• Prayerful Intention: Prayer is understood in many overt forms in our world. The Christian faith utilizes it as a their primary context for connection with God. Muslims define prayer in a steady sacrament that takes place 5 times daily. Whatever one’s practice maybe around prayer, it is always done with intention. Zoetic practices intercessory prayer on behalf of others through intentional connection to source, higher power or God.

The Outward Disciplines

• Yogic Practices: Yoga is an ongoing personal journey that unified, strengthens and balances the body mind and spirit. It is a powerful tool that can be utilized by anyone regardless of their current physiological condition, injury or ability. It is more than physical exercise or flexibility; it is about intentionally moving energy, breath & blood through the body.

• Vedic Prana: Breathing: an automatic reflex of the body to bring oxygen into the blood and carbon dioxide out. It’s something we don’t think much about but our bodies innate intelligence does; and yet it is a physiological response that is completely within our control. We can hold our own breath or breathe deeply depending on our intention. Learning to work with this ability under all emotional circumstances can provide great power and awareness to a skilled user of Prana (breath).

• Physical Exercise: It goes without saying, physical exercise is good for you. No further study is needed to prove this point to us. Developing a physical personal practices is imperative in order to maximize one’s ability to stay strong and flexible as we age as well as avoid or heal well from injury. It’s also no small contributor to the reduction of stress.

• Study: Most American’s finish grades K – 12 with roughly 5.7%  the populations continuing on to higher education. Frankly, this is putting a massive intellectual strain on us as a population. Cultivating a personal value of continued study is vital towards one’s personal growth as a human being and without it, we find ourselves dumbed down and manipulated by influences and authorities on all sides. That is not the basis for a free thinking society. Reading, questioning our perspectives and personal journaling are key to understand this discipline.

The Collective Disciplines

• Permaculture & Community Farming: Permaculture is an integrated and holistic design system which provides for human needs while increasing ecosystem health. It is a cultivated perspective and practice for how to interact with the environment around us and can be studied and practiced by anyone: From those with acreage to those with a window box. It changes the way we view the natural world and our place in it and our nutritional health.

• Herbalism Studies: The art of wildcraft is rooted in the understanding that human beings are of the natural world and the natural world is full of sentient life that is constantly communicating with us. It is humanity that is failing in receive the message. There is an abundance of medicine, nourishment and tools that heal our bodies and consciousness growing outside our doorstep.

• Community of Practice: For many, this is a familiar concept. Our churches, community centers, yoga studios and gyms are often places where we build a community of practice. It is inherently human to create community where we gather. It is important that our communities be ingrained with the intentions for the improvement of our human consciousness and the health of our natural world in which we embedded our communities within: This is the inward and outward evidence of a community of practice.

• Collective Intention: This is the extension of all the inward and outward disciplines collectively. It asks the question – where are we going as a species? – and it acknowledges that the power to set that course if fully within our individual grasp. We do not have to agree with the cultural perspectives or development of others. We only need to agree that we are all one human entity and we must make our way through life obeying a single universal law: Do No Harm.

I have developed an ever-emerging belief system out my foundational faith that conveys to me we are not different in any way from each other but the same being. Every human on this planet exists within the dual form of human consciousness that is both from the individual perspective and from the collective: We are one humanity informing the universe from behind individual eyes.

I propel a hopefulness outward to every being on this planet with these 12 disciplines of the Zoetic Order: For life begets life and death is only a passage back to source. May we come to learn this to be true.

New Science/New World

– JD Tunnell, MA

In 1666, Sir Issac Newton reached the height of his achievement; exploring the invention of calculus, groundbreaking work in optics, and the development of the notion of gravity as a universal force. Newton’s work in establishing the ‘laws of physics’ created a foundational anchoring for the emerging changes that were coming out of the European Age of Enlightenment. Establishing that the known universe operated on conditions of firm causality and the heavenly orbs moved in charted patterns, forged a predictability that translated into how emerging markets and means of manufacturing would later be established.

Governments, declarations and dogma’s began to shift onto the new global scene; pulling human-kind free from the bonds of tribalism and towards the bonds of colonialism. Manifest Destiny became the imperative of the new world as sure as the sun would rise on the backs of those that pushed it forward. The world was for subduing. Soon fleets of ships would spread across the globe dolling out doses of Christianity with swift measures of Darwin’s survival of the fittest.  Nothing would, nor should, stand in the way of the dominate cultural paradigm to march forward towards the eventuality of globalization.

And so we find ourselves at the threshold of the 21st century: A global human civilization has finally emerged onto the planet; focused on dominion of all it has surveyed for the millennia preceding it. Whether we are comfortable with the notion of colonization or not, the fact is, we are all products of it. Regardless, if we are operators of the latest technology in Beijing, Berlin, Boston or we are the young man mining conflict minerals in Congo; we are all working to pay the man and are integrated into a global system that marches ever-on.

However, a change is in the wind and we only need to see it once to know it.

Once Micheson & Morely concluded their late 19th century experiments on Black Body radiation and the zero velocity of the earth moving through space; they had firmly established a crack in the solid state of the physical world. Einstein would later utilize their work as a foundation marker for his attempts to balance a  Unified Field Theory. Scientist like Niels Bhor and David Bohm would contribute their work on the atomic structure and Quantum Theory; allowing for a new science to emerge.

We are now facing a reality that is very different than the one we were given at the setting of the last century. Holographic universes and geometric solutions to the unified field theory build upon those men & women’s work that came before us. While some focus on the questions the new science discovers in the smashing of the matter that makes up the physical universe, other’s search for that meaning in the infinite space that connects it all.  As is usually discovered after enough time goes by, both harbor a truth.

Now, we become the bearers of a new enlightenment that is spreading across the globe. Quick communications and a new perspective proliferate on how each and every one of our lives is both so different from each other and yet so much the same. All of us find ourselves toiling under the weight of a system of labor & reward that literally enslaves some, pretends to serve others and truly liberates a very few.

Things are shifting though; as presented in the current statistical analysis of Blaise Aguera Y Arcas: a team lead of applied research on machine intelligence for Google and the former architect for Bing Map’s and Bing Mobile. Blaise’s interests in social change are grounded in gender shifting roles and the rise of the feminine in our emerging cultural awakening. In a presentation given at the newly formed, Goodship Academy of Higher Education, Blaise demonstrated the  profound point that women are socially trending towards being the dominant gender energy on this planet; and thank goddess!

Blaise describes this in a recent article; with more women graduating college, their incomes will continue to rise while men’s appear to be dropping. The data charts Blaise work’s from paints a telling story that the rise is likely to continue well beyond the shattering of the glass ceiling. Couple that with the global decrease in men’s testosterone levels and you have what hippie channelers and militant feminist have been saying all along: The feminine is rising.

Apparently it is the Age of Aquarius.

The trends of change that are occurring in our world and our social infrastructure are happening regardless of our cognitive ability to fully grasp them or allow our egos to form opinions upon them. The rise of control states and the proliferation of wars seems to coincide with a rise of an awakening human populace to embrace a new understanding. As the Shaolin masters basic tenant of defense states; do not absorb you enemy’s energy but redirect it. The control matrix imposed upon the human populace of this planet does not need to be fought against with bloodshed but with the shedding of the self.

“The only hope for humanity is in the transformation of the individual.” – Krishnamurti

The answer to why we are here is inside you. It’s not found inside me or from the mouth of the next great leader but within you. You hold the key to all of this. That’s what the new science is telling us and that is what the ancient text tell us as well. The observer collapses the infinite wave of potentiality into a boundary condition of personal perspective. Yes, you are here having a personal experience but you are also connected to something far bigger than the physical manifestation of self. Your grasping of this concept of the duality of being and holding both in a space of non-judgmental acceptance is the key to our collective evolution.

The new age we find ourselves in, appears to be offering us a way beyond the shackles of our past and current ages. It is promising potentiality over inevitability and quantum superposition over certainty. It is telling us to not stand idly and stair into our scopes or holy books, but instead, too interact with this new understanding of the universe.There is a new science at our feet and a new religion to go with it. Let’s embrace and explore our future as humanity together and lay down our ambitions to conqueror others. We can be a great and noble species.

Let us be so.

The Influence of Words

I was a having a conversation with some friends over dinner the other night and the subject of “judgment” happened to be the topic. Depending on your stance about this word and the context that it’s utilized in, it could definitely hold a punch that could ruin dinner altogether and send people running for the hills.

Being the open-minded adults that we are, the conversation continued to grow and manifest into something beyond my own understanding of how we use certain words. As the dinner dialogue lingered on, I found myself intrigued by the structure of meaning with words, how we choose to utilize them and how they can both positively and adversely affect us.

In our society, there are certain things that we have been taught on what we should or shouldn’t say in the presence of other people. For example, we shouldn’t say the word “nigger” or call a white person a “cracker” or a Hispanic person “beaner.”

These are words; a composition of 2 or 3 morphemes, grammatical units of a language whose principal carrier of the meaning was distinguished by us. Yes, these words are derogatory and it hurt, but it is also a grouping of letters placed together and given power by placing “meaning” around it and introducing it to the world to use at their will.

But, remember the old adage, “Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?”

Often these words do hurt and it can bring a person down pretty quickly. But, I believe that there is a way to overcome such negativity and abolish these words from ever hurting us or others again. If these words hurt us and the feelings of other human beings, then doesn’t that simply mean we and every other person who are hurt by these words “identify” themselves with it? And how about those that are delivering the words? If they are utilizing them to hurt or describe another human being in a derogatory manner, then they too are identifying with the words that they are choosing to use.

It is unfortunate that we have created language that has been meant to demean another human being. But, what would happen if we had the capacity to de-identify ourselves from these words that cause us pain or pain of others, and abolish the opportunity to perpetuate the negative context and the power that these words possess? I believe that there would be a paramount manifestation of how we construct meaning of the words that we choose to identify with, and a greater systemic change would evolve.

I may be caught up in what is known as the Utopia Syndrome, which means that there is a definitive, total solution to the problem of de-identifying ourselves with words that we’ve learned. I don’t think there is a “total” solution, but I do believe that we have hope to work towards small changes that will cascade to larger changes.  Yes, it’ll take a great shift in paradigm and how we think about others and the words that we use, but most importantly it is how we feel about ourselves.

A Response to Boston Bombing – Forgiveness

I have spent the past couple of days in quite contemplation over the bombings in Boston. During that time, there have been many things that have risen up to be outwardly spoken or thought about. My response has been to wait. I have waited until I was able to respond in a manner that was completely my own. What I have come up with in that time is forgiveness.

Even to myself, that seems counter-intuitive but as I have learned in the past few months, paradox is the process that life takes in order to reach a balanced end. It is when I trust that, that I achieve balance within myself. So, forgiveness is the appropriate response. It is appropriate because without a personal stance of forgiveness, I could never see the events for what they are. I would be concentrating on an outcome that I wish to see rather than remaining in a place of vulnerability that allow for clarity.

The expected response would be vengeance and that is what we are seeing unfold with many individuals in this country; “You tread on me and I will tread right back on you.” Certainly, the fact that this creates a cycle of violence is easily understood but there is a more important motivation for forgiveness as the appropriate state of being in this situation. Without the clarity that such a place of vulnerability allows, there is no way to discern the reality of the situation.

Certainly, you could trust the information that is fed to you through privately owned media organization. That is your right to do so. However, we live in a world where the information, the raw information, can be gleaned and discerned for ones self; if one seeks it. The problem is, like all information, raw information can sprinkled with manipulation, tinkered with and scattered with misinformation. The reality is, the ‘concrete answer’ is not what we should be individual seeking. We should simply be seeking the truth and that is elusive at best.

forgiveness doesn’t portend to a lack of consequences for those responsible. In fact, it isn’t for them at all. The benefit is for you. Forgiveness allows you to be free of the anger, the fear and the judgment of a situation such as this. Forgiveness gives you freedom and with that freedom, you can begin to see far beyond the events of the day in Boston. For instance, on that same day, 33 people were killed in an bombing in Iraq, making it the deadliest day in Iraq this year. This isn’t new for many parts of the world and in a number of cases, our military and foreign interest intentions are the perpetrating elements of such atrocities.

Finally, without cultivating a position of forgiveness, we can not see the elements at play that may insist darker intention; are we being played? Are we being manipulated towards the goals of those that would seize power and control in manufactured opportunities? I don’t know but I can tell you this; it would be naïve to say that it hasn’t happened before. After all, seizing control of power and control is our national past time.

Fluoride in Water

The last word of our week-long research and expose on fluoride additive in the drinking supply of many first world countries is simple: Why?

Why do we bother to add this obviously controversial and probably toxic additive into our drinking water? Those that push for it to be added appear to be corporate interest and influence able municipalities. Many of the citizens who rally around the issue, do so in opposition. There is very little citizen alliances around adding the chemical to drinking water.

The point made by Professor  Paul Conner is well put:

“This is the only time we have used the public water supply to deliver medicine for obvious reasons. Once you put it in the water, you can’t control the dose and you can’t control who get’s it.” ~ Professor Paul Conner <https://www.facebook.com/plowline?ref=hl>

Furthermore, what is the value of putting a medicine into the water supply when the FDA and the CDC both advise it’s topical use and that is should not be ingested (read your toothpaste tube).

The evidence that it causes significant health risks can be found in a wide variety of reputable studies from a number of universities, citizen group and even government agencies. However, as in any controversial issue, an equal number of studies can be found to counter concerns. This is simply manipulation of the data on both sides through biased research analysts and study groups.

The fact that there is concern in the general public, in my opinion, is evidence enough that fluoridation in the water supply should be stopped. The benefits do not seem to out weigh the alarm.

To Vote Our Morals or to Vote our Values? That is The Question.

The two party system is a propagated illusion that limits our choices and pushes us towards other peoples agenda. It is a systemic issue with how American Culture is cultivated and who it is cultivated by.

Marketing is the dark art of our time. It’s a dark art, not because it conjures magic, but because it is the music under the noise of our culture that is lolling us into the trance of buying into the American Dream that is created FOR US instead of BY US.

Citizen involvement of the political systems is one of minimal power; limited to the fringes such as Occupy or Tea Party. Collectively, we are not involved at the citizen level but at the consumer level. We are not just consumers of things but also of information that is provided to us through media outlets like a product; like preferring one brand of mayo over another. Consequently, because our political participation is marketed to us, we are only given limited choices: Republican or Democratic. These candidate figures (whether it be presidents, congressmen, senators, local, state or federal) choose a specific branding message that is moral based not value based: The message of the conservative or the liberal.

To allow our diverse values to be narrowed into two simple moral camps allows us to be controlled. It doesn’t matter which candidate you choose from the two major parties because nothing, systemically, will change. Sure, there might be some minor pushes on the moral issues YOU side with but true politics is not about morals because those are singular and subjective (I believe). It is about values (We believe). And the reality is we all value the same things: good food, clean water, warm shelter, good health, meeting the needs of our family, taking care of our children, health communities, strong civil government and an opportunity to thrive.

When we vote our morals we are voting for ourselves. When we vote our values we are voting for each other.

-Divided We Stand. United We Fall.

State of the ‘Alternative’ Union

[roar of applause]

Thank you. Thank you very much.

[applause]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, Distinguished Guests & Fellow Americans,

I woke up this morning with the most powerful moral clarity that perhaps a human being can posses. I woke up this morning with an understanding of our human condition that demands me to say what it is I am going to say tonight. I won’t be speaking about our trials as a country or our need for bipartisan cooperation. I won’t be touting our countries accomplishments in a thinly veiled attempt to outline  my successes. I won’t be politicking, policy making or performing tonight. I am only here to speak with one group of people: My fellow Americans.

 [applause]

People of this country, your government has failed you. This is not a recent failure. My administration, as well as those before me, are not to blame for the problems we face. We are merely the source for perpetuating the circumstances that keep us in them. We have been faced with these problems for many decades now and although our country is always faced with challenges and difficulties, it is how we choose to meet those challenges as a people that determines our success.

 [light  applause]

The current problems we face, are outside the office of the President to fix. They are outside the congressional and judicial branches ability to solve. There is no one in this government who can change our nation’s circumstances but you; the American Citizen.

  [light, sporadic applause]

From here on out, I will commit myself to doing what this office was meant to do; to serve and lead the American people. Instead of working towards partisan goals, voting along party lines, lobbing for corporate interests, working towards re-election or appealing to the approval of those within the government, I will, from here forth, focus on you the people of this country. You are my employer and whom I am elected to serve.

 [light, confused applause]

The problem is simple. We here in the government have been focusing on the wrong point of power to steer this country. We have been focusing on a very small minority to determine our direction as a nation; ourselves as government officials. We have been caught up in a false idea that we determine our countries course and have been gradually reinforcing the idea that you are merely a spectator. Certainly, some of you congregate in protest and work to move this nation in an equally partisan direction as we do in our separate parties. Unfortunately, that is as powerless as the methods of leadership we have been perpetuating here in Washington.

 [silence]

It is not our differences that make us strong. It is our collective interests and values that do so. Make no mistake, we are one people in a common goal for all our wellbeing. This is not achieved by focusing on our divisive self-interests. It is accomplish by focusing on our collective values, our unified purpose and our united vision.

 [light applause…trying to get back into it]

We all want to feed our families. We all want to prosper in our circumstances. We all want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a attainable possibility. Therefore, we all must collectively move forward in a direction to get us all there.

 [two people applauded in the back]

Over the course of my remaining months in office, I will work diligently to guide you in steering this country out of this dark and difficult time; and make no mistake, it is a dark and difficult time for this country. We will accomplish this together by focusing on the steps that, as a collective of individuals, make us indivisible.  By being indivisible we will begin to steer our country in a better direction.

The 3 initiatives that I am about to lay out may seem trivial to you. They may seem inconsequential to our greater problems and perhaps, on their own, they are. However, it is the outcome they can produce to change our country that makes all the difference. Once we as a nation, a collective, learn to adjust our focus from the problems to the solutions, we will be a new kind of global power. A power of true peace and prosperity for mankind. We will be what our founding fathers intended this country to be.

 [light applause]

I am going to ask you to trust me. Now, that’s not something you are used to hearing from your President; is it? If we are going to get through this, then we are going to have to start looking at our daily lives differently and begin to act upon new directions; including trusting each other.

The first initiative is about allowing each of you the means and focus to take back your control over your daily lives. As a powerful symbol of this, I am going to ask you to do something that hasn’t been done in this country in over 70 years. I have carved out a small amount of money from the defense budget through the Executive Defense Initiative to fund a program to get every American growing his and her own food. We are only a few months away from the planting season and I am asking each and every one of you to build a Victory Garden.

I am encouraging business and land owners, city officials and community leaders to rally behind this initiative. Open up spaces for people to plant Victory Gardens in empty lots, unused fields, roof tops and in back yards everywhere. I am not going to authorize a tax break or money to encourage you toward this purpose. I am simply asking each of you to come together behind this idea and work to achieve it.

I am authorizing money to make organic seed, soil and fertilizer initiatives in communities everywhere a reality. I have created a small department that reports directly to me to oversee this program and create online classes and materials to teach people how to get started and have the most success possible.

 [stunned silence]

Why would I make this my first initiative in this plan you might ask. It’s simple. If a people have lost their ability to control their own destinies, either voluntarily or through force, giving them a collective vision and goal that brings them together is the only way to gain that control back as a people. I know no better way to gain control over each of our individual lives than feeding your families. As an example, the west lawn will be converted into a victory garden that myself, the first lady and our children will maintain .

 [silence]

The second initiative is to understand our collective power as a people. I am encouraging you to all congregate together regularly. It doesn’t matter how or for what reason but I am asking you to take one day a week and make it a day of congregation. You may congregate in a church, a community center, someone’s home or just outside. I am asking you to come together in groups of 12 or more and talk to each other.

It will be difficult for you at first and it might feel a little uncomfortable but it is so important to understand that we are not on our own in this world. This initiative can not be achieved through the comfort and security of our televisions or internet connections. Therefore, I would ask you to consider, during this time of weekly congregation, to keep all media and forms of outside influence to a strict minimum.

The goal is to come together, to talk about your lives and to find connection. My personal experience is that smaller groups work quicker and more efficiently to achieve this goal. However, I leave your method of congregation and the subject matters you discuss to you. Just remember, coming together in positive attitude and open mindedness will produce abundant results. Anything opposite of that, will simple keep you imprisoned in your old routines and achieve little towards our greater good.

The final initiative is observance. I want you to observe how the next 12 months unfold. Be observant of the engines of our culture that have perpetuated a state of division among us. Be observant of yourselves and the things inside you that perpetuate this division. Be observant of our world and our neighbors and how we respond to them and vise versa. Act out of this observance to make a better home, neighborhood, community and country for ourselves.

I have every confidence that these three initiatives will get us moving forward as a country. You, the collective people of the United States of America will take the initiative from here. The power has always, truly, been with you. It’s time for all of us to remember this.

Thank you and good night.

 [crickets chirping in the distance]

That Tightening in My Chest

These days, it seems like it’s getting hard to breath. My chest is tight, my vision
is blurred and every instinct in my body is firing off neurons attached to
fear, anxiety and doom. I can’t look up at a passing airliner anymore without
my heart skipping a beat; as its dark silhouette cuts at the sky. It didn’t
use to be this way. In fact, there was a time when I was content with being
productive and believed that my place in society was secured by my drive to
participate.

It began to come to a crash at around thirty. At the time, I felt enlightened. I felt
like I was become free from the shackles of society and culture. With the
loosening of the chains of expectation and results, I could begin to explore my
‘true self’.

That was certainly the case for a while but then things began to change. I made different choices and took on new
responsibilities. With those came a new set of expectations and results. So
now, here I am, aware of my growing neurosis around the culture that I live in
and feeling completely enslaved by it. The worst part is; it not my own demise
and failure that bothers me the most. It’s the fact that I am very much aware
of our collective demise that really gets me.

It’s as clear as day from the perspective that I am standing at. I mean hey, when you
let go of all the societal expectation but haven’t vacated society itself, what
are you left with? Pretty much nothing because you have managed to fail at all
else but the one thing you do gain is perspective; and I’ve got it in spades.

I look at us and I am, frankly, appalled that the rest of you can’t see it. How in the
world do you think we can possibly continue on this way? Are you really under
any delusion that, somehow, this all ends with roses and parades? Do you really
believe that this human experiment is going well? Wake up buddy and look
around. You can’t find peace in war, prosperity in poverty or thriving human
systems in failed attempts. One does not come out of the other. We are doomed.
Bummer.

What? You think we have another chance to vote our way out of this mess? Really? Our
political leaders are consumed with the same plague that consumes each one of
use – consumerism: The need to fill an unfillable hole within ourselves. I mean
hell; our entire economy’s health is actually measured by our affliction. In
fact, it needs us to consume in order to continue to run. It’s got a name. We
call it the Consumer Price Index. There is no political solution to this
problem.

Oh, I hear you. You folks think that there is a religious solution to the problem.
Right. OK. Well then, keep going to your big box church in the mall and pray
for a way out of this one folks. Just because you highjack Jesus and tell everyone else that they are lost without knowing him your way, doesn’t mean you’ve found the way. The idea that those of religious orders are somehow exempt from the consequences of 1000 generations of humanities actions in the world is just crazy. You are accountable for the action of all that came before you in the choice that you make for those that come next.

 I would agree that the solution is bigger than us. I would argue that the tenants of Christ’s gospel message are the key to our woes but Religion itself is dead. There is no solution in bigger churches, louder music and more money in the offering bin.

We are in trouble people and we had better stop looking outside of ourselves to find a
solution and start looking inward to find the problem. That’s right, I didn’t
say look within to find the solution I said problem. I’m not so sure there’s a
solution to be found inside but I’ll be damned if we are not the heart of the
problem.

We spend so much time and effort to save the whales, save the dolphins, save the
flowers, and save the planet. Hello! If it wasn’t for us, these things wouldn’t
be in trouble in the first place! Aren’t we the ones that need some sort of
saving?

This is what I believe people are really upset about these days. I look around and I
see so many other people who are braver than I am standing up in their
frustration. As I just sit here and ring my hands over these trivial things:
how am I going to pay for our health insurance? How am I going to pay this
months’ rent? Can I really afford to take my wife on this date?

Other people around the world are standing up and demanding that things change. Now
that this movement has come to our own doors, we mock it. We laugh at those
folks in New York, Seattle and San Francisco protesting and occupying space in
the name of change. We point out that they don’t even have a unified message
when in reality, they do.

They are saying loud and clear, ‘I am tired of being afraid. I am fed up with being push
around. I damn sick of being lied too and I am going to do something about it;
even if it means just occupying this space.’

Isn’t it time we all stood up? Surely its time we all woke up. There is a haunting
reality out there folks and we all need to look it square in the face to come
to terms with it: we are nearing an end. I don’t know what kind end or how it plays
out but I think we need to stop fearing it and start embracing it. I think it
starts with standing up from where you are seated right now, take a deep
breath,

Now let it out

…and say out loud,

                                “I’m tired of being afraid.”

 

…say it again.