The here and now, All there really is

The only way forward in life is to get over ones self. The difficult nature of this process is that once you have torn down a significant part of the ego's facade or illusory compulsion it will begin to build a new one. The task itself is unending until the ego can be so significantly tamed. Not be an overwhelming nuisance but rather a well behaved and mature proponent of our psychology. We cannot escape the truth of existing, the here, right now. We can imagine all sorts of fantasies but low and behold we are always in the present moment. The ego can be a great tool in sustaining a healthy mind but it cannot be permitted to solely control us. The evidence of the horror of such an existence is the present age of consumption and self interest. As a civilization we have permitted the petty minded greed of fools to lead us. It is similar to permitting children to run household economics, all the money would go towards ice cream and candy and the infrastructure would shut down and we'd end up in the ditch. How else would a society based on sales end up? We sold everything for (cheaper) trinkets and baubles. Shiny toys that glow and speak to us in exchange for the earth , healthy food and clean air. No animal is so stupid as we. As long as people only consume to fill their emptiness they will never be able to fill themselves. The only things that can actually fill us is human companionship and the environment we have evolved to survive in since the beginning of (human) time. This age of greed is cold and sterile (emotionally) and we fool our selves with placebos into thinking it is good and wholesome. When desire is taken in hand and tamed, only then do we have control over our selves. Only then can we do what is right and act accordingly.

The insanity of humanity: The source of the mad monkey's power.

There are many reasons for our mad ways. Yet I think there is one which centers on our actual ability to be such wild and untamed beasts. Unlike most critters on this planet we are in constant rut. We are not the only animal who has this characteristic but we have many other characteristics which in combination make us the equivalent to a biological nuclear bomb (on slow release). It's not just the obvious about being in constant rut (mass population increase only depending on food supply) that makes us so dangerous to the world. (No wonder that the so called Green revolution of petroleum based farming products sky rocketed our population) But the actual madness of the rut which literally heightens and increases our aggression. It is this aggressive nature which actually makes us so dangerous. Mice are also able to reproduce often, yet they serve no real danger but as the single greatest mammalian food source in nature. The real danger of our population growth is that we are predatory and lay claim to the top of the food pyramid. But this pyramid is growing top heavy. Because of our use of fossil fuel to fertilize our crops we have inverted the pyramid and are beginning to suffer from the diseases which follow closely behind any heard which grows too large and unhealthy. The power of speech and the gullibility of our species has made us perfect patsies for those who desire power. So we kill each other for one bauble or another, one grain of dirt or another. These spin doctors and demagogues redirect our excessive aggressive energy towards those they perceive as their enemies and we do as we are told. Murdering untold numbers for one resource or another in the guise of ideology . There is no other animal so sick and demented as humanity. All the rest seek few things for survival (food and occasional shelter). We on the other hand seek so many reasons to annihilate our selves, so ending our need to survive. The madness of humanity is our most unique characteristic. Not our thumbs, brain, speech or erect posture. These are the resources which permit us to engage in all sorts of horrific wastes of energy to gain some demented form of dominance over one fear or another. We claim all kinds of superiority over nature but really it's just our desperate need to have some sort of control over a world which we are but a small speck in the dust of time. Even if we end up destroying our world life will bounce back as it has from so many other destructive forces. The sad and pathetic insecurity that we suffer from is our weakness. We deem ourselves divine and have created so many gods in our image so that we could feel some link to that which we judge great and infinite. Just to battle the great fear of death, that which we cannot conquer. In the name of our fear we will destroy anything. No other animal has ever had the disadvantage of so much power to achieve such horrific realities. It's not that I hate the light bulb above my head keeping the darkness at bay. No, I love it. But that does not mean that it's not going to eventually destroy the world. One light bulb maybe not but what it represents, you can bet on it.

How a mole hill becomes a mountain

Worry and stress are similar to dust. They gather in the corners and build up until you wonder how they got there. Sweeping away such nuisance is the only solution. The funny thing is how unperceived it is at first until it builds up then it seems that you're under attack. Little by little the increments are barely visible until they are overwhelming. Frequent maintenance sure helps keep the conscientiousness up otherwise we can be overwhelmed by the smallest and most ridiculous points of contention. My prescription is a good healthy dose of evenhanded and compassionate introversion sans the egocentricity. That's the stiff broom to get the job done.

The Minds Eye

It is only once I stop forcing my mind to think and permit it to do what it was made to do that it works amazingly. Just staring at a log, a rock or piece of old rusted iron or an old tire releases all the potentials, all the things you could do with them or not. Instead of tensing up that old grey matter just let it flow. It amazes me, the things my imagination can come up with when I let it be. I love certain tools. My axe for its simplicity yet versatility. My knife because it can make almost anything. A paint brush can actually let me transcribe my subconscious onto canvas and paper, but the one I most adore is my imagination for it's limitlessness. I have from time to time forgot this and am fortunate to have children as friends for they always remind me of this amazing thing. I was visiting friends and the youngest boy once finished his chores went to his mother and asked if he could go play with his imagination. I found him latter out on the front porch deliberating, creating, thinking up universes and adventures. I was so envious, then I remembered I too can do this and of course once I really thought of it I realized I do. My adventures unfortunately have been tainted by bill paying and all sorts of other adult nonsense that I should do but not mire my mind with. So I'll loaf off and daydream my life away. Still paying the bills and all that sort of fiddle faddle. There is nothing so grand as sinking into one's own mind, as some huge fluffy cushion and especially feeling good about it.

Problem?

Most problems are only the product of problematic thinking. The solution is amazingly simple, don't think.