La Joie de Vivre

Modernity and all its labour saving devices has taken the meaning of life from us. "Joie de vivre" means "joy of living", since we no longer live for our selves but permit robotic like devices to do our necessary daily tasks for us we rob ourselves of the joy which can be derived by the skill and ability of being able to individually take responsibility for ourselves. We have become so over specialized in our money acquiring tasks that the simple doing and learning of achievement is no more. We have become so corrupt by the narrow minded pursuit of money earning that existence itself has become a trivial calculation based on acquisition. I'm not trying to pull apart the materialism of our culture, those in favour of it will sing it's praise and need no help in explaining the heaps of its greed. Rather this is a lament of the lost action of living ones own life and just being ones own self. The emergence of the industrial phenomenon of the middle class has brought honest folk closer and closer to the despicable love of an aristocratic way of life. To pass our work on to others, to live off the sweat, blood and backs of others. The Count Dracula version of Vampire folklore is the perfect analogy for how the aristocracy feeds off the blood of the peasant. How else have monarchs accumulated so much wealth and lands through out the centuries? How else have the robber barons taken hold of the power of the world? We the people have become infected by our adulation of their supposed lives of ease. Yet we lost the most important thing there is to being alive . We can no longer make our own cloths, grow our own food, make our own tools and utensils, think for our selves. So we are the perfect fish to be shot in the barrel, who must purchase the necessities of life being incapable of providing such things for themselves any more. Freedom might just be a euphemism for slavery but less advertising, less propaganda equates a mind less hampered by someone else's desire to control us. We are the one animal best capable of taming itself, once done we tamed all the others who could be tamed and killed those who would not. Tamed of course just means controlled. I suppose we made the bed and there we shall lie.

Freedom from religious chains: Samsara's poisonous thorn

Samsara ends when you stop believing in it. The end of the fear of suffering is the gate to the end of samsara. Is that Nirvana? Does it matter? The Buddha said "I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians" He was wise beyond human thought and thus exceeded it by emptying it. An empty mind is the only freedom from the world of suffering and turmoil. In that process reconditioning is the byproduct and brings calmness and solace to the practitioner.

From the cradle to the grave

The process and application of ideas (that is in the personal lives of people) has weighed heavily on my mind of late. We say and mean many things, when relating our feelings and opinions. But what seems to be more relevant is the pattern in which we do these things. I suppose what I'm getting at is ones personality as opposed to ones views. It is an interesting division, since most of us identify ourselves via our perspective. Identity is so often framed and filled by political, philosophical and practical beliefs or experiences. This is obvious, but when we really get to know ourselves and those around us the idiosyncrasies become fascinating. You might come to notice that your political affiliations are really those based in the morality you were raised on. But we might come to notice that our personal life experiences do not jive with the program our parents have entered into our minds. How we are raised and our reactions to that are of such a magnitude that the issue can hardly be avoided. I have previously described this as the software of our evolutionary process. Developed through out the ages by our ancestors and their experiences and reactions to existence. Millions of combination's of genetic characteristics and the software to go with the unit to cause it to work, survive and split off into copies again. If you have the good fortune to come from a large family with good relations and long generational relations you can start to get a look at your own family history and behavioral patterns. The way a person walks, talks, relates to the world...it's amazing. This is the mechanics of living life and that is what really makes it so important. Here is a Zen Buddhist story which brings home the only valuable point there is to life. With out it you might as well have been born a krill or plankton.

A student said to Master Ichu, "Please write for me something of great wisdom." Master Ichu picked up his brush and wrote one word: "Attention." The student said, "Is that all?" The master wrote, "Attention. Attention." The student became irritable. "That doesn't seem profound or subtle to me." In response, Master Ichu wrote simply, "Attention. Attention. Attention." In frustration, the student demanded, "What does this word 'attention' mean?" Master Ichu replied, "Attention means attention."

Being aware may be frightening at first but eventually anything else is ridiculous.

The Buddha also said, "I see... nirvana as a nightmare of daytime."

So the blue or the red pill?

Homo Sapiens Lament

I am constantly flabbergasted by the arrogant insistence of my fellow human being that we as a species are not animals. As if we get some holy sanctum to avoid the stigma. How ridiculous. I have heard so many half baked reasons as to why we are not of the animal kingdom (aka from earth I guess). One person (who lacked any knowledge of anatomy, especially bone structure) was explaining as to how we resemble no animals, nothing about us is in any way similar to the creatures of the earth. He actually resembled a laughing chimp as he carried on with his strange rationalizations. I find this subject as that of eternal life, a taboo, a box they can not get out of. I think the reason such subjects are unmentionable and unnavigable for many is that both ideas are pillars to the human egocentric psychological shelter from the bare truth of existence. If the mind is wiped clean of such beliefs a scary truth will present itself. The small, unimportant reality of the self and the human race can be quite damaging to many fragile and weak minds. Life without big papa in the sky is quite disconcerting, if there is no Wizard of OZ behind the curtain, and we are just another animal fighting for survival; then there is no certainty and we are not some holy creation above all the rest and maybe we have no get out of jail card to save us from ourselves. I can't say for certain what the rest of the human race feels. But I once believed in the great all seeing master (watching over me), but when my eyes were opened and I left the cave, I was happy and relieved to be free of that control structure. Accepting the inevitability of death and its finality is a great step to enjoying and not wasting the one life we have to live (Carpe Diem). Life is fleeting and it is sad to see people with great lives who can't see that for themselves. Always wanting something else, or to be someone else, what a waste. I have begun to see that when people lament their lives to me and they expound on what is missing that would make it all good; the only thing I see that is not present is a happy attitude. We are only unhappy because we are not happy. Seems simple, it is. Expectation, is the seed to discontent. Not realizing (daily) how precious life is, they wast the amazing power of mental focus on the negative and thus suffering commences. I guess we love to suffer. Happiness is the elusive holy grail of humanity, and it is right there in front of us all, just waiting to be fulfilled. Empty the mind of negativity (it's hard I know, I wrestle with it daily) and just float in no thought. If the self is just an illusion taught to us as reality by our parents and society. All we need to do is take a minute once a day to be free of it and see how calm and beautiful solace really can be.

Electoral Representation

Here in Canada as our neighbours to the south we are entangled in that most sacred of debacles, a federal election. I wish I could be all excited and filled with pride for our democratic process. Don't get me wrong I love and support our system, well what it should be. The legislature is supposed to be comprised of individuals elected by those who they represent. Now we have voted for them, but who they actually represent is what this little tirade is all about. I have rarely felt represented and rarely have I noticed or seen a Member of Parliament represent her or his constituents. Most often they do what their party tells them. This is my gripe, I don't remember the party getting them elected I thought it was the majority in their riding? Of all forms of corruption, bribery and lobbying it seems to me that party system of cronyism is the downfall to the system of democracy. Political parties should be outlawed and made punishable by death. Representatives should be bound to obey the majority consensus of their region. If they disobey, they should be replaced by another regional vote. Some would argue that this process would be costly and inefficient. Modern democracies are so expensive because of corruption that a representative who had to keep his or her act clean to stay in office would certainly cut down on costs. Many would claim that this would slow government down and nothing would be achieved. Well take a look at what governments actually do, I think slowing them down would do them some good. All modern governments have over exceeded their primary mandate, they have over stepped their bounds and are more akin to parents that ruling bodies. Government exists to maintain infrastructure and make laws to safe guard its citizens and have those laws enforced for the benefit of its population. But where are we now? We are riddled by spin doctors and swindlers. Is this new ? No. But if these sneak thieves could be slowed and made to worry about their jobs if they fail to represent us, well then maybe they might think twice. Idealism? Yes. But the end of the party system would be the key stone to dissolving much of the corruption. Here in Canada we have had a minority government for the past few years and I think it's the best way to keep these power fiends in check. They actually have to compromise and negotiate with each other to get anything done. At least that way we can be mildly assured that what the government does do will not be so one sided and will actually have to be debated in parliament and negotiated.

Deprogram

The easiest way to empty ones mind of all the horrible garbage that has been stuffed in there via TV, magazines, movies is to shut the influx of this negative media down. All those romantic films of how things aught to be clog your ability to actually deal with your own life situations. Adventure related entertainment, movies, video games, books, all these also paint us a picture of a reality which is false. Thus confusing us as to what we will encounter and how to deal with life. Post-modern media methods have been so successful that most of us do not know the difference between reality and TV. It is no wonder that those nations who are addicted to mass media are the most vulnerable to demagogues and their spin doctors. In the past people were more occupied with their own lives rather than those of the characters on The Young and the Restless, Friends, Lost or any of the countless false realities fed to us. If the mundane boring world of politics and economics were more prevalent to the minds of the masses, elections would be run more like actual issue related campaigns intended to choose those to represent us in governmental council. Instead of a sporting arena farce for choosing MVP's and best rookies of the year. Fodder for the masses to shield those who will do as they please either way.
The analogy of Plato's Cave has never been so obvious and relevant. But unless people run out of food the vast majority do not care and would much rather stay in the matrix than be aware and part of the grand complexity of reality. Burying our heads in the sand of hollywoodism is so much better a diversion that the pain of self analyze and soul searching. To see that the great Western Empire is not so much The Good Guys we were told it was. I remember Sting's song "Russians" were he sings, "I hope the Russians love their children too", which back in the eighties was practically considered treason by many. How simplistic and absolutely stupid! People literally thought that an entire group of people would be unanimously evil as to not care for each other. But wait are their others that we now attribute such negative behaviour? I'll let you think about that. Conquer and divide is just as apt a strategy as ever. We are not separate from each other we all inhabit this planet , breath the same air and eat from the same soil. So any thing which counters this must be denounced as lies and demagogic manipulation.
Turning off the flow of our minds addiction to media is next to impossible. Humans are so impressionable that we are susceptible to repetition. So maybe just cutting out and weeding down our media consumption can start us on the path to clearing up the subterfuge and escaping the cave. Socrates plan of life analysis is the path to get on. Who are we? Why do we think what we think? Who told us to think that way in the first place? These are good and necessary questions to start the immense task of "Knowing Thy Self". We cannot change the past, but here in the present the power is ours and as I always say to my son "if you're not controlling your self, who is?". A valid thought in an era where our hunger and sexuality are exploited by advertisers in the name of the powers that pay them. The burger on the screen isn't actually there, sex for selling furniture polish is irrational, but you will buy polish. Which one will you pick the one that reminds you of how mundane polishing your furniture is or the one that has implanted images of passion and affection into your subconscious? A drooling dog is the appropriate image here. We have been made into dumb beasts. The excitement and adventure that has been superimposed onto these fictions are making fools of us and proving us incapable of thinking for ourselves. Turn the advertising off. Block out the sly serpents tongue from your ear and its deceptive images of beauty and youth. Look in the mirror and accept who you really are.

Buying is not living.

Buying is not living. It's just deferring the responsibility for something you're either too ignorant or lazy to do for yourself. The fulfillment of the potential of human consciousness is only achieved within the context of our actual and original environment (nature). Walk through a forest and try to take it all in, every little detail all the noises, the clouds, the wind. Our minds were meant for that, to survive in the complexity of the true reality of nature. The intellectual pursuits of civilization are but a banal attempt at placating our intense sense of boredom, which is a product of the mis-use or rather under usage of our minds full potential. The focus on singular specializations have rendered us emotionally bankrupt and missing out on the wholesome fullness of human existence. We did nor evolve to be factory workers or bureaucratic paper pushers. Why do so many people feel empty and without purpose? The answer is not so hard to find, they do not have much of either. Our potential is not being met. The obsession with leisure is a poison eating away at the root of happiness. Purpose can only be achieved via actual practical actions. Why do so many people take up hobbies which were once viewed as chores? Gardening, exercising, cooking. Why are so many difficult or even dangerous activities pursued as pastimes? Mountain climbing, hiking, whitewater kayaking...etc. Simply, because post-modern life is vacant of actual meaning. Existing to consume and then consume some more is not a "reason d'etre". Pavlovian response may be effective in advertising but "man cannot live by branding alone". The market economy may give us mucho cargo but it has failed us and is destroying everything and anything of actual importance to our well being. Fulfillment is achieved through the act of creation, making your own food, growing your own food, carving a spoon, knitting a sweater, catching a fish, building a house or shelter. Doing it for yourself and not relying on another who has been disadvantaged enough to be paid so little to achieve a task that you can afford to have them do for you, doesn't do you as much good as you may think. We have been infected by the ancient ways and mannerisms of the ruling aristocracy. Living off the labour of the many poor and un-empowered. The problem is that honesty and goodness check out as we check into political extortion and heavy handed trade policies. The world has become very complicated and the lies we tell our self have also. This world wide scenario of the mercantilistic vision is exactly how Britain lost America. "Viva la revolusion".

Patience

Sacrifice and steadfastness have produced ample reward for me. Patience is not only a virtue due to its consideration and compassion onto those it is practiced upon. Yet rather its larger reaching arm is the strength and power it imbues to its practitioner. Patience is a root which gives forth such bounty that none can challenge its validity. Those who lack it suffer horribly under the weight and oppression of anger and hate. Such bedfellows one should not court wantonly. Betwixt them shall no man or woman find solace or contentedness. Being the prisoner of addiction and hotty sorrow. Every step towards calmness is a leap to freedom and new beginnings. We must never despair nor fear, for it is these very acts which sap our will and drive. To the solace of the heart and mind must we shift. The goal is an even keel, neither obsessively happy nor sad. Yet rather balanced and steady, unaffected by slight and trivial matters. Solid and strong as the very earth below our feet.

What is evil?

This is a topic I usually ignore. It is a highly subjective judgement call. Sure the usual things like pedophilia, murder and rape are brought up and yes these are very nasty things indeed. But what about the Hitler kind of evil, big culturally destructive evil. Well while I was doing the dishes talking with my son about how the use of bio fuel is driving up the cost of food. Then it struck me, it is that sort of thing which is evil. The real scary kind of evil. The wealthy developed and developing nations are foolishly taking the food right out of the mouths of the worlds poor. They can watch their children starve so that we can get enough fuel into our cars and big ass trucks. It's not far off from the holocaust ignorance that German's always claim. It has actually made me understand how they can actually claim ignorance. We go about our lives complaining about paying an extra dollar for bread, or cheese or whatever. These poor I speak of may not make that much a day. Even if they did how can they be expected to pay 100% of their income on a food product that is well above their actual pay. The food riots have begun, Port Au Prince, Morocco, Yemen. Yet we continue consuming. If the Muslim extremest have one thing right it is the attitude that we are the "Decadent West". We fill our fuel tanks with food while the world starves. If that isn't evil then what is? While talking with my son I began to realize that this is a world without justice, bad is good and good has turned into bad. What have any of us done to merit what we have over a small starving child? What could that infant have done not to earn the basic right to eat? Is that just deserts? Do you and I work so hard that we can waste the large majority of the worlds wealth on our needs (wants) to be entertained, over fed and transported from one place to yet another? We just as German citizens during world war two, feel unable to change the way things are. We believe the demagogues, and spin doctors. Yes everything we do is right and our enemies are always wrong and that includes you if you disagree. We send our army's off to invade and kill people who are only defending their families and way of life. Of course we are justified because their way of life offends us. We have many of them stored up in concentrations camps where they are periodical tortured and demeaned for simply being who they are. During World War Two, Allied terrorists where called freedom fighters, remember the French Resistance, the Dutch Resistance and the Jewish Freedom fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto. The world has turned upside down and we have become the evil Empire. The bad guys are us. Resistance is futile (unless your Castro). No matter what they say about Castro (human rights violations) the American, British and French governments have all done (and do) so much worst. If you are contrary to the great Empire it will twist all your words, all your actions to create a perception of you which is diabolical, even if the facts are to the opposite. Orwell was right. But he didn't think it all up out of thin air. All governments have been doing these sort of things since the days of the Pharaohs, when the priesthood spun the king as god. Often I realize that the world has always been this way, it is I who have come around out of the blinding evil of propaganda to see some semblance of what is really going on. Waking up from the matrix is not enjoyable. But once your eyes are open it would take plenty of alcohol and little blue pills to try and pretend that it was all just a bad dream and even that could never really work. Just as the man who escapes the Puppet masters of Plato's Cave, their is also great joy at being freed from the idiocy and stupidity of the fable being woven into the minds of the populace. Freedom from all such structures is what the word (freedom) truly indicates. Not the faux patriotic rhetoric spewed by so many liars and political usurpers. A mind which is unfettered, without shackles is the greatest form of beauty any of us can achieve. It is step one on the path to reconstruction.

Cynicism

I am always surprised to hear how surprised people are at the news of corruption, criminality and avarice based behaviour among humans. Yet, I'm also socked when people are taken aback by good deeds and heroic behaviour within out primate ranks. It seems as if neither are considered the norm anymore. Since humans are capable of anything, why is it that human behaviour always astounds humans? Perhaps we are just misinformed, out of touch with each other. The influence of the "me" generation has indeed had a tremendous influence on the modern mind. So maybe anything outside of our personal standardized mode of conditioned behaviour is shocking. Since I'm shocked by others being shocked I might be on to something.
Just as someone learns a new word and is astounded that they now hear it everywhere. It becomes a coincidence, a mystical experience. Or could it be that their previous ignorance simply excluded them from the use and understanding of that word, and they really never had a good idea of what was being discussed in the first place. Considering that everyone one of us suffers from one degree or other of ignorance, it's a real surprise that communication even works (maybe it doesn't). But what actually surprises me is how we think we know so much. I believe that is the root of our general ignorance. Ignorance of ignorance is why I think (in my ignorance) is why we humans are so easily manipulated and controlled by the media, aka the corporations and interest groups who fund it. The British had a fool proof plan when it came to controlling a people;"Divide and Conquer". The division was not just a physical one but a psychological factor as was the conquer bit. Keep them in the dark in their little groups , make them believe what you want them to believe and herd them about as so many sheep and goats. Especially in this age of information, we are so much more vulnerable. The level of distraction is at it's highest ever. Why is Hollywood fluff so popular? How best to calm a population than to avoid informing them and fill them with mindless entertainment (emotional ooze). The best way I have found to avoid a topic is to either avoid anything mildly related to it or change the subject all together. Any school aged child will tell you how they mess with the teacher by finding out his/her favourite subject and getting them off track with it. So it's quite instinctual for us. The key is to realize when you're being messed with or diverted by the media. It seems that we are being pumped with the idea that we are so much smarter and better than our ancestors. Sure literacy stats usually claim that more of us can read and of course this is good. But does that mean we are smarter and more intelligent? Are illiterate people stupid then? Because that seems to be the assumption. Or have we divided the whole world up, stigmatized every aspect so as to be able to analyse and categorize value and worth (good and bad). Is this not the engine behind the construction and maintenance of the great myth of the "Norm"?
As a French Canadian I was raised speaking two languages and experiencing two distinct cultures. What I have noticed here in Canada especially among uniligual people is that their lack of any other culture or knowledge of other languages has imprisoned them in a monoculture. The problem with this is that it is perceived as the only one, the end all and be all. Without a simple understanding of how other cultures don't only speak and act differently they think differently, these monocultural folks are so much easier to control and manipulate. With only one view or more importantly the belief in one view, all one needs is the pulpit to preach from. The western world and its mass media is the dream all demagogues have prayed for since the first homo sapiens walked in groups. Since the likes of Emperor Chin (first Emperor and unifier of China, that's why it's called Chin-a) forced cultural unification (one method of writing) on the people of China and destroyed everything that differed (confiscating all their swords, destroying countless texts) we the people have been subject(ed) to the tyranny of the few greedy. Perhaps calling them "noble(s)" was a sarcastic joke on the part of the oppressed.

For Fortunes sake.

The greatest failure of humanity is our unnerving arrogance in the presence of existence. Hubris as our ancient Greek ancestors called it. Is it that spark of confidence that strikes off a lucky break then grows and multiplies as we mount yet another successful enterprise upon yet another? The loftier one ascends into this egocentric addiction the more intense and solid seems the emotion. Icarus being the patron of blind ambition. The obvious and more clear example is that of a gambler. Unlike most peoples heart felt desire to win the lottery and be set free from a life of toil. The gambler thinks he/she is looking for that one big break, but is actually addicted to pleasure of winning. But it ends up being the emotional high which is coveted not the actual end that he/she is after. Ups are only good when they arise out of lows and lows are a necessary agent of evil to get oneself back up. Gambling is an exaggerated example of the emotional pattern of every humans day to day life. You stub your toe, you find ten bucks, you miss your bus, you run perfectly on time. The Romans gave this power to a goddess her name was Fortuna. Since life runs on relatively uncontrollable terms, we attribute positive and negative values to these experiences. Which only makes sense to us since the events cause both these reactions in us. Pain and suffering are bad; joy, happiness (painless experiences) are good. This is of course elementary. Yet why do we see certain things as good and others as bad? It would seem that other than physical pain, we are taught as children what is considered proper and what is wrong. Anthropology has shown us that these conceptions often differ from one culture to another. Which is of no surprise since cultures evolve from many different roots and are nurtured by a variety of influences. If this is so, then why are we so obsessed with universal ideals and morals (or more appropriately put"as being right")? If we all evolved separately in small tribal units, with differing languages and customs, how have we come to this point of assumed norms of behavior and custom? Well the answer is easy and painful, we are insecure with our place in the Universe thus desire to assimilate everything or destroy it. Making everything like us or extermination. We of course have some semblance of understanding ourselves and if everybody was like us we'd have no misunderstanding or confusion. Fear has driven humanity to all ends of the earth not wind, not oil. Since the beginning of recorded time we have killed and stolen from those who are different from us. The ten commandments were not proposed to ancient Hebrews as a Universal law but rather a tribal law. Meant to be practiced among themselves. When they entered the promised land they did not find that "Thou shalt not kill" applied to those who were already living there. Until the establishment of city states and then empires, universality was none existent. Your family was your tribe and your tribe was all you had to survive with. The ancient act of "prima nocturne", the practise of giving the first night of coitus with the bride to the Lord of the land (which was legalized rape) thus interbreeding with conquered people and never letting them forget that they were not free. This is but one example, the most popular have always been genocide or selling the conquered into slavery. Of course the conquerors must always have good Fortuna at their sides or they'd be the losers. Since the beginning of time we have either destroyed or been destroyed by other tribes (groups). It is the evolution of how one cultural pattern sucks up others and forces them to be like themselves. "Vae Victus" which means "Woe to the Vanquished", is a Roman saying and we as most of the world have copied their example ever since they ruled the Mediterranean. They too suffered from hubris, probably the greatest case on record and they eventually lost the favor of Fortuna and where overwhelmed by their enemies. Such an immense drama is the story of humanity. "Dog eat dog", destroy or be destroyed. The new role played by Fortuna in her modern day incarnation is of Justice, blindfolded and holding out a balance. We must be careful not to lose her good will, but of course justice has two sides and we can never be guaranteed of her favorable out come, unless we stack the deck...oh I mean the bench. I suppose that is what the state controlled media is all about. If the rabble ever woke up and saw what nonesense is being peddled as reality, there would be revolutions. But only food riots ever wake up the people. So let's wait and see how the future looks.

Things which are used.

So often I read about all sorts of solutions to reduce the carbon foot print. All kinds of new products (even Green clothing lines) that will lessen your pollution contribution. But the simple fact is that anything newly manufactured is going against this whole concept of green. The real problems people are having is not in finding low carbon producing products, but rather getting their heads around the idea of brand new. It should be listed among all the other offensive word/phrases of our culture. Not only is the actual process of creating the unneeded product an insult to the earths environment but this whole brain washing of the savior like qualities of the concept of "Brand New" is an insult to our intelligence and the idea of thinking for ones self. There is such an abundance of used clothing and many other perfectly good used products available that most of the manufactured crap is a tragic mis use of our energy and resources. Of course there are many things we require to be newly produced, but they are not the sort of things we buy just to satisfy low self esteem and boredom. If you really want to change the world, change the way you see it, change your mind, change your ideas of what new and brand new are. While you're doing this you'll probably save yourself hundreds maybe thousands of dollars in the process. "Green" has itself become a Brand name or tag in advertising and for that reason must be held up to the light. The corporations are savvy to trends now a days, so they will put on the sheep's skin and get you to give them your money in exchange for their ideas and conceptions of "Green", "Left", "Right", "Truth", anything you want they will sell you. So I say stop buying, stop being sheep to the slayers of your minds and free choice. I realized many years ago that we have been duped into thinking that many options equate many choices. This can be true, but only when the actual options are individual, that is separate choices. But how is choosing coke cola or pepsi or fanta much of an option when first of all they're all poisons and they represent nothing more than a select groups of ruling elitist corporations who are actually selling us the same things, just with different names. You may say that coke and pepsi are different tasting and you'd be right. But if that is the only choice you are ready to make, well you've been deceived as to what is important in this life. Diabetes causing beverages or foods are not choices, but rather addictions. The change in perspective is a personal one. As the person in Plato's cave who realizes that what she/he has been taught to see and think is not reality but a carefully controlled illusion, instituted by the puppet masters. It is key that the individual in their mind without coercion or manipulations finds their own personal path to this freedom. Don't be a sucker or a chump, be free without a price tag. You want to rebel, the only form of it that scares them is to stop spending on what they say you need. Deconstruct, un-learn, so that you can finally see who you really are without the insecurity and the fear of acceptance. You already are perfectly you. The Buddha was just a dude who realized this sort of thing and more. He was an absolute rebel, pulling his whole social structure apart and recreating a more egalitarian way. The idea is that thought can and will remake the world. So don't let the advertisers tell you what to think.

Buddha said:

• I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes.


• I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles.


• I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags.


• I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil upon my foot.


• I perceive the teachings of the world as the illusions of magicians.


• I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes.


• I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, nirvana as a nightmare of daytime.


• I look upon the judgments of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of belief as traces left by the four seasons.

Our Source and great patient parent.

We as all the various creatures of the earth are born of its great muck. The preternatural juices of the planet's intestines gave birth to us and all the other wiggly, squiggly beings. Our amazing sisters of the green world have fed us and nurtured our being. Yet they too are rooted down to the foundation of this dirt, soil and refuse. One great compost heap, which is life as we know it on this beautiful spheroid. Where it's going? We shall never know. So it ain't the arrival or the end that counts, but rather the journey itself that has meaning for us. The earth's rotation and wobbling are a great metaphor for our comings and goings or maybe it is us who are but a reflection of its great scale and most amazing life cycle. To it we may be more akin to flees or intestinal worms.Yet we continue our demur existence mostly unaware of the planets awesome trek.
Born of its flesh, of its blood and never torn asunder (other than a handful of astronauts and cosmonauts) we never stray from its loving embrace. Through human times we have come to associate this relationship as one of mother and child. As an infant we feed from her and yet we are never weened. It is our fate to be dependents for every aspect of life. The air we so direly require arises from the earths great and powerful lungs; the trees and our food sprout right from its flesh. There is nothing we have or can desire which does not come from it. So to it we ow everything. Yet we have forgotten these clear and simple facts. We have purposely ignored her well being. As all spoiled and greedy children we take and take, never thinking of the one who has given. We rip, dig and destroy and for some reason think there shall be no reckoning. All is well as long as we look away and ignore the poisons and destruction for which we have wrought. Stupidly enough it's not just all the myriad of other creatures we are hurting or the great extent of plant life we destroy, but we are destroying ourselves. This is always a sign of true depravity. Selfishness is one thing, it usually implies pure and utter self-centeredness, but when it leads to self-destruction it is no longer capable of sustaining its own existence and becomes a form of compulsive addiction and slavery to an idea of the self. Like a junky hooked on an illusion rather than reality. It is in this frame of mind that is born the main problem with our society. The conception of "Want" has replaced the reality of "Need". Our minds and bodies are so polluted by the idea of "Want" being "Need". We suffer as so many children from the famous disease of having " eyes bigger than our stomach". Avarice is no longer a cardinal sin but rather a virtue, and that is a formula for chaos. Spin is in the news and news is nothing but spin. Yet in that rests the solution. The solution is within our minds. The great ability our species has to imagine something, then bring it into existences. Just look to Tesla. The man envisioned the modern age and then he went and made it happen.
As long as consumerism controls the strings of our world we shall be lost in the darkness of greed. Profiteers cannot be left to govern a world which requires more than simple minded fiscal policies and by-annual reports. To sustain any civilization the long term reality of any and all policies cannot be dictated by lobbyists and corporations. You can't trust anybody who is concerned with money over people. Our democratic governments were formed to protect the people from the moneyed interests. We have not entered an age of information but rather an age of dis-information and most atrociously rampant Ignorance. The old sense of our interconnectedness with nature (survival instincts) has been usurped and replaced by an idiot box filling our minds with useless garbage. The sales pitch is our credo and the winner is the one who can swindle more than anyone else. The old adage of being able to sell ice to Eskimos (Inuit) plainly points to the idiocy of a philosophy which has no concern for ones fellow humans and their actual needs; just our wants. Until this changes nothing else will. Except election pandering and empty promises. What is the answer? You may ask. Read your history. Seek and ye shall find. Our written history goes way back. Do not accept what you are told, self-educate, make up your mind. Oh read Machiavelli, he was just telling it as it is.

No matter where you go, there you are.

To alleviate suffering we must firstly embrace and accept it. Running from it can't produce any useful results. Because we don't deal with it. Thus it is never resolved. By accepting it, looking it straight in the eyes we may begin the task of solving it's meaning and effect on us. Just because suffering hurts and feels negative doesn't mean that it isn't part of us. In fact it may turn out to be the source of great strength and personal power. Either way if you feel, sense or think it, it's in some way a part of you. As dreams are your minds reflections and reactions, so are your emotions the essence of who you are. Most suffering arises from our inability to deal with who we are. If you keep trying to stuff the square peg in a round hole, you will never get anywhere. If you cannot accept reality you shall suffer. The good news is that suffering is just psychological. So you can be reprogrammed to accept reality. It only takes the desire or will to do so. But this might involve a few changes in how you view the world. Paradigm shifts can be in themselves quite painful but like pulling off the band aid or pulling out a sliver; the end result will be well worth the effort. We have been programmed by post modern media to find fault with our selves, maybe to even hate ourselves. Why? You may ask. Well so that you will buy the cure they're selling you. You are imperfect and they will help you, they will save you from yourself. Advertising didn't invent this method of manipulation, they borrowed it from a very ancient and successful franchise. Not McDonald's or KFC, but rather religion especially western christianity. That ideology has it's hold by telling people that they are essentially born bad and owing a debt for this inherited badness. This is the crux of the whole control system of christianity. You are born owing the deity for the sacrifice he made of his son to save you from himself, that is his rage against you for not having obeyed his rules before you even had a chance to know them. Well it seems the cards are stacked against us even before we are born. Seems strange this whole control issue. Why would an almighty god need to implement such base methods of gaining power, when it already has all the power in the Universe? Seems more like a plan thought up by people. Especially a group who want as much power as they can humanly squeeze out of the main populace. Since history began this has been happening. From supposed god-kings to earthly representatives of divinity, we have been caught like fish; hook, line and sinker.
So do you need the newest product in so and so's line of products? Is Brand New a phrase that makes your mind tingle with happy thoughts of cleanliness and purity? Have you ever walked into a mall with its sparkling marble floors and cathedral ceilings and felt, elated? Makes you wonder. Malls have always seemed like temples to me. The Eaton's center in Toronto is shaped just like a cathedral. It is in fact bigger than any one I've ever been in and I've been in Notre Dame in Paris and St. Paul's in London. Every time you purchase a product do you feel better about yourself? I know you do, we all do, we've all been programed to do so. Our greatest childhood friend Great Mother Television is funded by those responsible for the whole consumerist ideology. From the slinky jingle to the true advertising pioneer coca cola. We have been given a message of salvation; buy, buy, beg, borrow and steal so as to buy more. In this most holy of sacraments ye shall be saved and so we do beleive.
How is all this to be resolved? Can it be fixed? Is there really a problem? It comes down to control. Either you have it or someone else does. Humans are psychologically permeable, power of suggestion is everything . So be on guard and do as a wise person once said , look for those who have the most to gain and there you will find the culprits.

Beside the sauna

Our Confusion

For quite some time I was worried about the coming economic problems. Here in Canada we have built suburbs over our best farm lands. So once oil gets to expensive , food transportation would inflate prices. Especially since so may of our rail tracks have been removed in favor of less efficient big transport rigs burning gas and congesting our roads. But one day I saw a documentary on how Cuba was dealing with the loss of Russian oil and petroleum by products, especially fertilizers. Brilliantly as all capable human beings they planted gardens everywhere and coped with the problem. Latter on I saw how Argentineans where trying to deal with a tragic economic collapse. People who once worked steadily and owned homes, were out on the streets surviving any way they could. Quite similar to how the Great Depression was taught to us in school. Not a pleasant situation at all. Yet I have known many people who weathered the Great Depression and are here to tell us about it. Perhaps we are to accustomed to an attitude which believes it knows abject poverty but really mistakes it for being poor. In the west, what we arrogantly call the first world. We go to work to earn money not so much to eat but rather to acquire and to consume manufactured products. We must learn to redefine what it means to be at the actual bottom of the barrel. I think that our especially North American idea of the bottom of the barrel is most likely mid way up the barrel or quite near the top for the truly poor, starving nations of the world. A dumpster here would be fought over tooth and nail in one of these nations. Of late we (our taxes) paid to throw Afghanistan back into an actually medieval type dark age. Causing great dependence on us for food. We are the masters of manipulation. we destroy a nation then cause them to beg us for the bare minimum to survive. If we want to see what an actual social collapse looks like we need only look to that nation. Ruled by Warlords, perhaps not so much medieval but rather an ancient tribal structure. But that also has some semblance of order, not our acceptable form of it but certainly not complete chaos. The western world is to damn wealthy to have a clue as to what the rest of the world is going through. So I don't worry to much about Canada anymore or our other brethren of the wealthy western shroud, but it is no wonder that the whole world wants in. We are jaded and obscenely ignorant.

The woodland cabin

Living Off The Land

I have always had a dream since I was a child. That dream was to live self sufficiently in and with nature. Often since then I would go off into my mind imagining how this would work. Cabin construction, gardening, chickens the whole enterprise would fill my mind with such a daze of hope and capability. I suppose being raised in Northern Ontario (a land of lakes and forests) had a lot to do with this idea. Of course I never thought I'd actually get the whole thing off the ground. So I enjoyed the day dreaming for what it was worth. Yet, when a seed is planted and nurtured it grows. One day you look in the back yard and a tree has grown from apparently nothing. Well I am happy to say that dreams do come true (wow I feel corny just saying it). I was able to purchase just under 20 acres of forest with a cabin, sauna and shed. I hardly believe it, even to this day. Then I see a photo and am filled with such happiness. So now falls the task of fixing it all up, with the help of some friends and family. It is amazing how unifying a common goal can be. Yet even more amazing is how cleansing it is to just be in nature. The human mind was developed in that environment. It is no wonder that the city frustrates, confuses and stresses people out so much. For thousands of years we existed and survived in the arms of mother nature. Being fed directly from her; right out of her very flesh do we cultivate our nourishment. Yet as the dumb animal we are, we forget where the food comes from. Many children think that food comes from grocery stores and that cities are separate from nature. How sad not to be able to recognize the face of your own mother. There are no alternatives, we are the earth as the earth is us. Hopefully people will become more aware. I always like to remind the children I know that the air you breath comes from trees and that you should love them for it. I'm not saying cry over that mahogany table in the corner. I may be a tree hugger, but I'm not ridiculously stupid. There is a balance, and we are not within it presently. I hope to regain it. I'll see what I can do.

The Ancestral Fire

Energy Crisis

Sell it all, get ride of all your possessions and run to the country. The oil is running out. So plant a garden and ask your grandma how to pickle and preserve. Learn how to make beer and distill booze before it all ends. Sharpen your hunting and gathering skills. Take a night course in skinning and curing hide. Forget about that old chain saw (remember there is no more oil), get a good axe and a bow saw. Man this survival business is pretty involved. Most people will probably rather die. Can and will a culture of leisure bother to bother surviving once the system collapses? Either way with the right marinade any kind of flesh can be tasty. Maybe cities are just big human farms, being stocked for the future. It makes me happy to know we won't starve. Well some of us won't. But is this apocalypse going to happen any time soon? They say the oil shortage is soon, but will we really feel it? The prices will rise severely, that is true. But will North America, the continent which houses the American nation be deprived? We Canadians always complain about our psychotic neighbor to the south. Yet being good buddies with the big bully has definite privileges. So will we be dropped off into the dark ages, or will we be on the ride for a bit longer than most? Being a first world country has already saved our asses more than we will ever know. The paths of money will not be abandoned, someone will keep them going as long as there is profit and power to be had. The re-invention of the local business will visit us again. Local farming and goods production will start up again. The railways will be re-instituted as they once were. Maybe not chaos, maybe not a dark age. Perhaps with the combination of individual power production (a series of solar panels on every house) and a new kind of energy conservation ( when you actually can't use what you don't have, you don't) we will see the birth of a new age or the reemergences of an ancient philosophy. An age based on intelligence and practicality. The wasteful use of a car just to go for a ride will be dead. Of course this energy shortage will be the only way the Kyoto Accord will actual be put in affect. As all stupid humans, we have never been able to control our appetites. We are obsessive and compulsive. The only way to control us is to limit us. Once the oil is really gone, then and only then will we be able to start down the road to efficiency. Will there still be war? Fucken right. Will people still starve and die? Absolutely! Humans love conflict, you might shake your head, but look into yourself and see how many times you start fights, verbal and violent (out of boredom, insecurity, anger). Ancient cultures fell apart as they used up all available resources. Until they developed extensive trade routes. The Romans acquired their grain from Egypt. Point is those who say it's all over are just talking about their luxurious life styles. Humans will survive, one way or the other. By hook or by crook we aren't going anywhere but here on this Earth. Anyways, there is no simple answer. But be assured it's the ride of human civilization and it won't end anytime soon.

Things never seem to change all that much

The base existence of religion is food, via the basic concept of survival. The sacrifice of one for another ; the life of one animal to continue the life of yet another. Here is the whole center of the relationship of humanity and the gods. The sacrifice begins as a simple process of killing to eat. We eventually begin paying those in charge of existence. The blood payment to the god(s) is a share of the spoils to guarantee future collaboration and loyalty. Interestingly enough, blood is the one part in the whole of the animal that is wasted, spilt on the ground. Thus it is offered up to appease our guilt and fear. The ancient hunter would ask the spirit or essence of the killed beast for forgiveness. While (coercing it) telling it that he too shall die one day and be eaten. Of course this appeasement is done very much to avoid the anger of the animal and avoid suffering the revenge (haunting, bad luck) of the beast's soul.
From these roots of sacrifice we move into the direct exchange of life to save life. Human sacrifice becomes quite a wide spread and practiced method of acquiring the aid of the god(s). Human blood of course is the greatest offering a human can make. ( incidentally oaths were usually made with a blood seal). These human sacrifices would be transported into the lands of the god(s) and act as messengers and intermediates to the god(s). The living would thereafter pray and leave offerings to the newly sacrificed for communicating directly to the deity for them. Such as the Catholic saints do and Jesus Christ. It is via these conduits that prayers are brought to the attention of god.
This whole need to communicate and gain boons from the god(s) is quite simple. They were the local authorities of existence for our ancestors. Each god had his or her appointed department of expertise to manage. Interesting how the similarities of such pantheons reflect human governmental bureaucracy and humorous how bribery is the basic concept behind religious overings. Just like politics.

Post Modern Survival of the Self

The greatest post-modern tragedy has been the denial of oneself in favor of some media campaign. Some make-up, or hair color add telling you how imperfect you are and how their product can solve this problem for you. Worst and most insidious are the drug companies and their cure all remedies for life. Like the snake oil hucksters of old, going from town to town selling cure all ointment then leaving town before night fall to avoid the taring and the feathering. The whole of advertising is aimed at alienating us from our own concept of self worth so as to represent themselves as saviors with cheap and affordable methods or products to ease the suffering for which they have introduced us to. It's down right immoral and as wrong as war and pedophilia. We are the fish in their barrel, and we thank them for it. Where would we be without all the wonderful garbage they make us believe we need. How much more crap can you stuff into your house? Oh, well move and buy a new house to fit new things in. Got to put the crap somewhere. There are actually few things we humans need. Food, shelter, and the work to sustain these two and of course the reason for these three are our families. The rest is distraction from these things we should concentrate on. But we are lost, our new religion is consumerism and the only thing that can save us is another Great Depression. People from that era are real, not wasteful and they understand life. Less is more and it was a hard lesson for them to learn. If we can teach it to ourselves and our children we would be better off . Frugality is an art not an affliction, learn to do with less and you will have more (money in the bank) and have a greater appreciation for life and what it means to be alive. Boredom, just means you haven't mastered living yet. Being depressed is something to beat not lie down and accept defeat from. Technology is great and at the same time the destroyer of thousands of years of human culture. Once again we need to adapt and reformulate ourselves and our culture, so as to move forward into the next thousand years. Not as slaves to media and production, but rather as survivors and proliferators of a freethinking humanity. It might be a silly dream but in regards to this ignorance for which advertising and propaganda have brought us, we must have a game plan of escape. If this is the age of information, we must use this information to drag ourselves from the pit of ignorance. TV taught idiocy. There is a reason they used to call it the Boob Tube and the Idiot Box.

Avarice; our greatest sin

If you shake your head and think " less is more" is just a cop out. Well I suspect your a yuppie or worst a yuppie want a be. It is your sad ideology or selfishism and greed which are destroying the world and human cultures. We cannot support "bigger is better", the future can not hold this childishness up. You must view your waste as robbing the future of its resources. In a similar light as the compound interest factor in your rrsp, the more you waste today the greater the cost will be tomorrow. But who fucking cares, right. Let's not repeat the ignorant pattern of our parents generation. The "me" generation was a failure, they wasted and squandered our future. That's why electricity and fossil fuel is so expensive. It's their shares in big corporations which are inflating the stock market, cutting jobs (for profit orientation). They have geared the corporate world to a short sighted, self centered ideology. You may even feel that I am naive for even saying this. But is a strong, efficient, profit orientated corporation or business not going to have longterm, future based plan. To be strong and wealthy, these companies need to see that the future is all they have, and providing longterm employment will create a society which can afford to perpetuate this capitalist ideology. But everybody is behaving as rats jumping off a burning boat. Thing is they started the fire, and could slow things down and put it out. Problem: greed. The piggies are devouring their own piglets.

Who are you?

Are you living someone else's life. Do you think you're Britney, or Justin? Do you read all the tabloid shit so that you'll know how to dress or act? Because if you do, it's a sad thing that you don't seem to really be into being you. You're not that bad. Being them doesn't even make them happy so why would it content you? You don't need make-up, just wear your o-natural face instead of the mask of popular culture. You only need because you've been convinced and conditioned by a sales happy industry. I'm just saying your worth being. We all are, and the sooner we all get comfy being who we are the sooner we can accept happiness and contentedness for what they are. The simple exercise of being oneself for who oneself is. There is nobody other than you who you can be. So stop trying to hide and play dress up as some star or other. Give yourself a chance, show compassion and love on to yourself. Be nice to you. Not by indulging weak minded binging and wallowing fights of depression. Depression is what you feel when you give up on yourself. So don't give up, continue onward, for what else is there to do. Save yourself, because no one else will, or can.

The We as we are told to be.

The effect of 2000 years of Christian conditioning has certainly produced a version of humanity which is in constant revolt from its natural state of being. The very base of this Catholic (western European) religion is its explicitly stressed control over human sexuality. From the sperm to the fetus to the new born to the senior citizen. All of human existence is covered. Of course the choice of controlling sexuality was genius on the part of the church. Other than food what instinct controls the lives of men and women. The turmoil and guilt associated with the action and inaction associated with sex is a perfect control mechanism. Destroying the validity of sex as pleasure and replacing it as a sole duty for reproduction was just the exact thing needed to put a collar of insidious manipulation around the instinctual drive of humanity to reproduce. After having such a long and old tradition in a culture it is difficult to know what is really normal (if such a concept ever existed). Perhaps the actual idea of normal itself has been a construct to keep us in line. It is no wonder that the church has had control over education for so many hundreds or thousands of years. Just as the American population is so certainly duped by their blind adherence to television. Christian based culture too has been blinded by an ancient method of mass indoctrination. Not that christian morality does not hold any good, it certainly does. But the whole condemnation of free choice as a damning gift (choice) from god. Basicly back hands the whole idea of free choice while attempting to falsely promote it? After 2000 years of intense cultural programming, it leaves me wondering what next? The corporation as religion and the instituting of Orwell's 1984 in front of our very eyes? For those who can and choose to see?

If you can only experience through you, well then...

We arise from the muck of existence and we eventually descend back into it. We cling to our words, for they identify us as members of cultures and belief systems. What are we, primates, humans, thoughts? If the world is espied through our imaginations, then anything is possible, as long as we believe in it. Thus we are incapable of absolute realizations. Prisoners of our own bodies, minds and hearts: to remain calm and aware would seem to be the only option.

The Retreat

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
--Henry David Thoreau

Words of Wisdom

"Commercial interests with their advertising industry do not want people to develop contentment and less greed. Military interests in economic, political, ethnic or nationalist guises, do not want people to develop more tolerance, nonviolence and compassion. And ruling groups in general, in whatever sort of hierarchy do not want the ruled to become too insightful, too independent, too creative on their own, as the danger is that they will become insubordinate, rebellious, and unproductive in their alloted tasks." - Robert Thurman

The craddle of life

The way we see existence

I asked my son what is god? Firstly he said "god is nothing", then I asked again, "what is god, to the the humans who believe in him or them?". Then he said with that smart ass grin I remember using so often as an adolescent, " Allah". I said, " yes, that's what Muslims call him, but WHAT is god?". He just looked at me grinning and wishing I'd just leave the room so he could go to bed. " God is the personification of nature", I said. " People need to turn the world into a human context to get a handle on it, god is the symbol for ultimate power." He smiled and went to bed. It's alway been so odd to me that humans need to believe they can understand the infinite. Call it what you will the mind of a human being cannot comprehend the incomprehensible. Of course there is the "whistling past the cemetery" theory, fear of death, once again fear of the unknown. Fear and ignorance have always and will always cause suffering. It's to bad, life is good and beautiful. All you have to do is enjoy it.

Don't be a slave to your lifestyle

Media imposed concepts of the mono culture lifestyle are a curse on personal economic growth and sustainability. If you spend more than you can earn you are a run away train on its way to disaster. Advertising is the great strong arm of falsely represented modes of being. If you can't get ahead, stop and take a look around. Try and see where the money is going and why it isn't staying. Easy borrowing and out of control spending are the horrible combination which are leading our society and our selves into chaos. What really destroyed the family? Too much easily acquired money and the basic moral bankruptcy of the "ME" generation has ruined a once honest and community orientated culture.The corporation has become so brilliantly organized that they now control (via media) what we think (we need) and how we feel. These generations brought up by television are mainly VOID of the common sense and practical know how which our ancestors reallied upon. Concern is based in selfish wants and actual ( longterm needs, those of future generations) are not just put aside but mocked and reasoned as none existent (the future is now). We are a candy culture. Economically we are as children who swept away the meat and potatoes, so as to eat desert for supper. A culture now weakened by personal self interest, instead of family, those for which we ow our very existence. Why shouldn't people be only concerned with "numero uno"? It is that nature of the morality which they have seen and experienced all around them. Responsibility is an idea only left to the courts to decide. If I slip and fall on your property, it isn't my fault. No, it's not up to me to watch where I put my feet. It's not up to me to carry my own weight in such a fashion as to avoid personal injury. No, it's your fault for letting such an idiot walk on your land. When people are so selfish, self centered and greedy that they'll do anything to get a "buck" and trade in their self respect, dignity and responsibility for monetary gain. It is obvious that we are in dire times.