The current conflicts in Syria and the Ukraine are the most recent and most visible components of a deeper struggle for the future of the human soul – a process now reaching a new climax – where individual consciousness is the most crucial prize.
Throughout history we have always had rich and poor, lenders and borrowers as well as people with soul and those without. We have always seen dignity, honor and compassion struggle with cunning, ruthless power and soulless ambition as overarching human values. Today, the outcome of this struggle permeates every pore of our society and individual psychologies and – currently – we as human beings are losing the fight.
The way we are conducting business, indeed the very fundamentals of how we pay each other and count our proceeds, is essentially pathological, yes, insane. The way we relate to others and our environment is dehumanized and disconnected and most means of communication and acquiring knowledge given to us deepens and spreads the disease.
On a concrete level, this is manifested by the central bank cartel with their fiat currencies and their desire for usury and eternal growth, the deep state and military industrial complexes of the Empire, desperate to profit from war, the pharma- and false nutrition oligarchies, the communications monopolies, the entertainment- and propaganda machines and many more. The beast has many faces, all united to expand and secure its power and profit and our submission and corporeal as well as spiritual slavery.
One can wonder where this persuasive force originally emanates from. It would be tempting and even comforting to blame a conspiracy and to point fingers at conglomerates of power and wealth amassed in hands of a certain ethnicity, creed or religion. Indeed, many traits of this process are similar to the actions of a criminal clan or cult, many generations old, with its own internal rules and a total disregard of those of others.
Another way of looking at it is as if it were a universal human trait gone wild, spreading like a virus, turning us gradually into spiritual zombies devoid of values other than those defined by the beast, nourished only by narcissism, greed and fear. In essence then, it is as if psychopathic permafrost relentlessly devours more and more of our culture.
By now, it should be clear that the most important, and maybe the last, line of defense against the beast is inside of us. A myriad of sources wants us to covet our neighbor’s new car, fear his religious beliefs and entices us to be “competitive” and “effective” instead of being honorable and compassionate, to be atomized and affluent consumers instead of related kindred humans. It seeps in at every level, from the executive suite all the way down to kindergarten. We are simply hypnotized, taken over and sucked dry.
Although the odds are currently very much stacked against us, there is a strong and very straightforward antidote against the virus: truth. Yes, truth as such does exist and is not open to interpretation or postmodern relativism; it just is “what is”. But to approach and fully use the power of truth we do need a high degree of psychological and spiritual consciousness, which in its turn is hindered by fear.
The lines of engagement are then quite clear, and the outcome of the pandemic is entirely up to each and every one of us. Psychopathic traits are ever spreading, being admired and emulated all over the world, supported by overwhelming commercial and societal forces whereas consciousness and truth can only gain ground by our own struggle against fear.
It might be counterintuitive to some, but this struggle does not essentially entail striving for moral perfection or the simple condemnation of darkness, but the promotion of authentic human values through the honest and conscious engagement with our own shortcomings. Only by becoming aware of the full anatomy of our own fears can we truthfully deal with their consequences.
This brief text then, is a call to arms of sorts, for a universal battle against the soul-crushing virus that is the main source of despair and destruction everywhere. Our expressed joint objective in this battle can be boiled down to one thing: know the truth, especially about yourself, better and more deeply than the psychopaths that want to abuse you. Gradually you can then make conscious decisions and take adequate action based upon this truth. Nothing less is going to stop the virus from spreading.
It all now depends on you finding and using that inner strength.
All beings have that inner strength inside them, from the lowliest insect to the most noble being.
The Buddha taught that all beings have “Buddha nature” and that we are all already enlightened in our actual nature. In this sense there is nothing to attain that we do not already possess.
The nature of mind, he taught, is pure and unstainable. This can be verified by meditation, and the Buddha taught that each should experience this for oneself.
All the “stains” on our experience are temporary obscurations, held together by habits and patterns which are compounding or dissolving according to our actions and intentions in the present. And yes, karma is real, and is simply the quality of the universe that pervades everywhere as the matrix of all activity, including thought and feeling.
We can also verify for ourselves that habits and patterns can be reinforced by our own repetition, and reduced by our own withdrawal. So the path towards improvement is very clear, as this article says, and is available to all beings.
So we can all be strong, and aspire to good.
Breaking News:
Motorola Assassinated.
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/breaking-dpr-commander-motorola.html
My condoleances,
This was unexpected and also expected, the current state of affairs, this frozen conflict proves to be a very torturing slow meat grinder for the 2 republics, this was one of my fears since there is no real solution to this conflict, the ukraine keeps attacking like slowly cooking the frog, slowly sucking the life out of the rebels, something has to happen to stop this.
RIP Motorola. You will be remembered. God protect your family. Thank you for everything you did for the Donbass.
Sad, sad, news……
Motorola was sent up to Lugansk to set things right there about a month ago. Something is really, really “off kilter” there.
I 100% agree with the comment you posted on that article:
“Long past time for the DNR to bring the war to Kiev. The Nazis should not be able to sit in their Rada or conspire with the CIA in their building, or drive their cars or fly in an airplane. Give the Nazis a taste of war.”
This is a “war to the knife”,and its time we realize that fact. The enemy understood that from “day one”.
Canthama over at SyrPer said it best:
“… As of Motorola, a great lost for sure, the guy was fearless and knew how to command troops by knowledge and exmaple, but he managed to form dozens of good leaders, Novorossiya is full of good commanders at all levels, Motorola will continue to lead Novorossiyans by his legacy, that is what a true martyr does, his death will inspire others to continue their struggle as best as possible. RIP”
Joint the condolences of all the sincere comrades here.
From my point of view and the timing, I am sure this has to do with the recent arrival of NATO mercenaries to Donbass. As some here, I also wonder why they are even allowed to arrive.
So sorry for the high elevated spirits who populated this blog and who never change their mood whatever happens.
You follow waiting for the Shamballa or whatever to come and for the Natural Order of Things (!!!!) to be stablished while the imperfect and low evolutioned souls like Comrade Motorola and all those who preceded him, one after the other, sacrify their blood and flesh batting the Evil who really
exists directly in the front line, Evil who is not preciselly inside people like Motorola or us but inside who some of us know very well and inside many more that we are discovering in the way.
If there were a Shamballa anywhere, is people like Motorola or Mozgovoy who most deserve to go there.
All my love to the widow and, not sure if
there is one, for the baby. I am sure that
the antifascist comrades in charge of the
DPR will not allow that they have nothing in fault.
RIP you can not go with more honor.
No pasaran!
https://youtu.be/7e5hXKz6uYY
Motorola is dead…
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/breaking-dpr-commander-motorola.html
BREAKING URGENT
BREAKING: DPR commander Motorola assassinated
The commander of the Sparta battalion of the Donetsk People’s Republic and famous defender of Donbass known by his callsign “Motorola,” Arsen Pavlov, was killed today, October 16th, by a bomb in his apartment building’s elevator. The incident has been officially confirmed as an assassination carried out by Ukrainian special forces.
Over the course of the war in Donbass, Ukrainian media claimed dozens of times that Motorola had been killed. This time, however, reliable sources have confirmed the news.
The Ministry of Defense of the DPR has officially stated that “According to preliminary information, Motorola was killed as a result of a terrorist operation of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group. Upon returning home, a remote-detonated explosive device was set off in the elevator.”
Interfax was similarly told by an “informed source” that “According to preliminary information, in the elevator of the house in which Arsen Pavlov lived, an improvised explosive device was detonated. The militiaman, as planned, was in the epicenter of the explosion at the moment and was fatally traumatized.”
According to numerous news sources in Russia and Donbass, a state of emergency has been announced in Donetsk and an investigation has been launched. The DPR’s defense ministry has since announced that a tightened “anti-terrorist regime” is in effect.
Motorola, who became an internationally recognized icon of the Donbass people’s defense forces, is famous for having participated in the most intense battles of the war since the beginning of the conflict.
Having been subjected to numerous assassination attempts over the past two years, the last one was on August 25th, but failed.
Motorola’s last known assignment was being sent to the Lugansk People’s Republic to provide security during the suppression of an alleged coup attempt.
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/breaking-dpr-commander-motorola.html
more details to follow
Re: “It might be counterintuitive to some, but this struggle does not essentially entail striving for moral perfection or the simple condemnation of darkness, but the promotion of authentic human values through the honest and conscious engagement with our own shortcomings.
I’m afraid that is exactly what it entails. There are no “human values” without “superhuman” values, that is, those defined by Divine reality, which created us and the world. The human norm is the saint and the sage, regenerated, illumined and sustained by the Divine Presence,not the “average man” or even simply the supposedly “moral man.” “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” And “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Spirituality is not the same as morality. Morality is only one of its indispensable human conditions. Spirituality relates to a concrete relationship with Divine reality through a revealed religion. “Without Me (the eternal and universal Logos) you can do nothing.” Also, the Koran: “Recite in the Name of God who created…who taught man that which he knew not.” (Sura 96)
Well guys, as I said in the Cafe commenting on this great article(comment)by Aivazovsky, the Evil is well alive and is not sleeping, the external attack is here again – see the breaking news. killing of Motorola. What is all about ? that his reaction (of the Evil) is fast and without mercy. Just keep in mind : you can be a Buddhist or whatever, now we are living in such extreme times, that you have to be aware all the time against such attacks. And here I’m not referring just to the murder of Motorola but at any attack on anyone of us in his particular life. It is true, if you don’t have a strong belief in God, in Truth, you’ll be crashed. I can compare this with the role of a soldier – as Motorola himself was – a good soldier must endure everything to achieve the final victory. Motorola has given his life for the sake of Truth, but has won his Life beyond this earth. God Bless him !
“Motorola has given his life for the sake of Truth, but has won Life beyond this earth. God Bless him!”
Beautifully said, ioan, and I second your statement. Motorola was such a force, so full of vitality, belief, dedication, from the little I’ve seen of him. I will miss seeing more of this great soldier and man. He certainly would have made a large contribution to the rebuilding of DPR and LPR.
But perhaps, he is not destined, intended, for that mission, that purpose. After so many failed attempts, finally, the warrior is pulled from the battlefield. This attempt could have failed once more, but this time, on October 16, 2016, it didn’t. Cosmically, is this indicative of a shift? Mundanomaniac, I wonder, do you see any signs of a shift in Motorola’s departure on this date?
Yes, Aivazovsky is right on many levels.
For example, though it is possible to point fingers and name names, I don’t think that is going to take us where we need go. The names themselves are but masks. The coyote people are experts at demonizing the righteous and playing the martyr.
I suspect that there are many people caught in the current power structure who are inwardly like Nikolai Stavrogin, suicide is a way out both personally and for the planet.
Beautiful. I keep coming back to “Just Be Kind.” It is comforting to think one is fighting the good fight with every bag of freely given garden produce, with every barter deal that trades an hour of my time for an hour of a friend’s time, even if the market might value our times differently. There are times when one has to get beyond the private sphere in order to fight The Beast. The trick is to know when. Also, we do what we can when we can.
The world consists of various layers of knowledge, and what appears as truth at one level sometimes dissipates at another. Not to say that truth is subjective, but rather situational, whereby our inner connection to the Divine may move us in incomprehensible ways. This incomprehensible nature, this mystery of the Divine, forces us to remain ever vigilant and watchful of our lives, for at any given moment the truth may move us, and it may move us in ways we never expected.
In essence the change is internal, but the effect of this internal change is equally represented in some way as external manifestations. How does humanity expel an evil root but with external effects? How those external effects manifest and in what ways these manifestations engage the world is crucial to this battle. It is easy to say that there is truth but it takes more nuance to understand in what way we must engage the world in the proper way. I liken the process to a form of mastery – to hold a firm rock which we facet into our seat of truth, yet remain mentally and socially fluid enough to encapsulate our Divine purpose.
The ‘truth’ is not an easy accomplishment, many people assume that telling the truth is enough, as in being factual about real events, however often times it is what we do not say which becomes the lie, these are lies of self deception which poison us. We may feel moved in one regard, not simply emotionally, but moved in a deeper more profound way, yet we ignore this, or we alter it, or we simply refuse it for fear of consequences.
The psychopath among us is organized differently than the compassionate soul, both mentally and biologically. They are in effect a different species, a ‘type’ of humanoid. Their entry into our domain is a spiritual question, and requires a spiritual understanding to unravel. This excerpt from a wiki page on the “golem” may provide for an example.
“In Jewish folklore, a golem (/ˈɡoʊləm/ goh-ləm; Hebrew: גולם) is an animated anthropomorphic being that is magically created entirely from inanimate matter (specifically clay or mud). The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing.[1]
The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.
The struggle is internal, but the battle is indeed against externalities.
Ephesians 9-15 “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace”
“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace””
Some of the nature of our omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenervolent deity:
Matthew 10::
“29.Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
Ephesians 1 (NIV):
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
Do you miraculously consider yourself above the Bondage of the Will https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Bondage_of_the_Will
“Luther in response maintained that sin incapacitates human beings from working out their own salvation, and that they are completely incapable of bringing themselves to God. As such, there is no free will for humanity because any will they might have is overwhelmed by the influence of sin. Central to his analysis, both of the doctrines under discussion and of Erasmus’s specific arguments, are Luther’s beliefs concerning the power and complete sovereignty of God.”
Maybe you’d now wish an attempt to address the logical problem of evil and wonder why you need to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace at all?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil
i.e. “8. Evil exists (logical contradiction).”
It’s not a miracle that I exercise my own will, but by the grace of God. The Source of life is timeless, yet the human mind exists within time – our decisions are known by our Creator, as we make them. We are extensions of Source, Source knows us through us, yet we mostly fail to recognize our divine connection.
The Creator created, but why?
Many paths have veered from right to wrong, and wrong to right, upon the willful decisions of man, pertaining directly to courage and cowardice. Those who pre-ordain the paths of men do so with only their own grandeur in mind. Kings of old decreed their divine rule because of their birthright of power and wealth, for it was ordained by God they would argue. Christ the Master showed another path, the path of Redemption through heart virtues, not birthright or bloodline.
Luther was an abortion of Christian thought. He in his own self aggrandizement failed to notice the divinity within his fellow human being. He looked for God where no God there was, in his own polluted mind.
Well, to talk to you, we must include time – the deities book is littered with that concept..
“Luther was an abortion of Christian”
It’s no wonder there’s fighting in the world – tell that to 900 million Protestants [I agree though, that doesn’t make them right ;-) ]
This Christian Deity self-describes as Omniscient, Omnipotent & Omnibenevolent. Whether you think you have free will (miraculously in contravention to Ephesians 1 v4) is of little import since that same deity describes the known judgment (and final destination) of your “soul” (and everybody elses). Fair enough, just knowing doesn’t mean the deity made it happen, right?
Matthew 13:49:
“So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous”
But, why would an omnibenevolent deity (who has the other two characteristics) create a creation the vast majority of who are pre-known [by name] not to pass through the eye of the needle?
Here’s one clue
Ephesians 1:5:
“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”
Ok – I feel your rage again against some of those pesky protestants again, so let’s strikeout the word “predestination” above and just say the deity done everything for the good pleasure of his will. What’s to argue with the 400 pound Gorilla, right? everything in fact.
The bottom line is that this deity (allegedly) imagined a creation that included not only the possibility of disobedience against itself (i.e. sin) but foreknew that it would occur and carried on with creation regardless. From that event of sin all the “nastiness” we see between one man & another ensued.
The deity, presumably, was not bound to include disobedience (or the pre-known nastiness) in it’s imagination & future implementation of creation but it did. For example, we are told there is no more sin (or gnashing of teeth) in heaven – has “free will” been excluded from those who reach that destination that is described as an eternal state ofperfection?
Presumably sin has been outlawed there since we know the deity goes bananas every time a disobedience occurs – if you enjoy free will so much presumably you’re not really going to enjoy heaven (even if the 400 pound gorilla says that you must). Or maybe the deity has just fed you some hallucenogenic to subdue your free will and the possibility of sin?
Why not just cut out the bullshit and supply that “drug” right now? Oh, but that wouldn’t be “free will” I hear your protest…give me a break.
Place blame where it lies – at the foot of the (alleged) deity
One final abomination, for now:
Revelation 20:10
“And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
For the “pleasure of his will” is all fine ‘n all, but why, if today you realised you’d screwed up, just not try a little omnibenevolence to fix things up a bit by doing the above right now, at least there’d be a little less deceipt to go around and a few more might get through the eye of the proverbial needle, right?
As you say, God is omniscient, so time is irrelevant. It’s a dimension of the universe, a variable in the 4-dimensional waveform.
“Ida Loewe, a Jewish musician from Budapest. Ida was a descendant of Sinai Loew, a brother of Rabbi Judah Loew, the famous Kabbalist, philosopher, and Talmudist known as the “Maharal of Prague” who some say invented the character of the Golem”
trivia – Ida Loewe was John Kohn’s (Kerry’s) grandmother.
Dedicated to Motorola…the brave defender.
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.
[Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004)]
Thanks Babushka for sharing this beauty !
I keep saying the phrase “straw that broke the camels back”. But if the murder of Motorola doesn’t do that. Then I will lose faith in our ability to win. It’s as obvious as can be, what the Ukrainian and US plan is. To kill, one by one, the leadership of the Donbass. Everyone of the leadership has a target on their backs. And as long as they stand around and do nothing but wait to be killed,they are all doomed.Retaliation in kind should have started at the first killing. If it doesn’t happen now,they are doomed. Bombs killing top officials in Kiev,need to start going off tomorrow.And if Russia is standing in the way of that,then Russia needs to go away.Its not Russian leaders that are being killed one by one. And if they expect loyalty from Donbass, then they damn well need to start showing it. If I was one of the targeted leaders, there is absolutely no way,under any circumstances,that I wouldn’t strike back,and strike back hard.No one in their right mind,stands around and lets themselves be murdered without fighting back.If Russia doesn’t want to help. Then they can explain that decision to the thousands,of Russians that took up arms and went to Donbass to aid their brothers. And to the millions of Russian citizens that support them.That would be a very bad mistake for a Russian leadership to make. Those people make up a huge section of the patriotic peoples in Russia.They support the leadership “because” they see the leadership as supporting the Russian Mir.Betrayal,will end that support in a heartbeat.
Uncle Bob,
if / when you do lose faith (I lost mine long ago, well before Martin) we can start a more realistic struggle based in this /amazing-words-by-donald-trump/comment-page-1/#comment-284608.
Let’s face it, there’s a lot of smart (and good) guys on this blog – all we need do is explain the truth and, am, conceive a strategy to dodge the Pepper spray / Kettling.
Well, it’d be a start anyway.
@ Uncle Bob
My Head, heart and soul are with you. Turning the other cheek again and again only leads to more black eyes and pulped faces, just to show rationality, good faith, diplomacy and other euphemisms to mask the pusillanimous leadership of the “anti-western” block. Sadly there will be many more victims and setbacks before they’ll realise that the empire of chaos is ruled by insanity and evil.
Uncle Bob,
What you say, I have felt many times. In general, I think Russia has been approaching the struggle well so far. I would note to everyone, the responsibility in this struggle for humanity rests on all of us and those of you who put too much stock in Russia fighting the fight for all of us tend to be disappointed with Russia’s action. I see that a lot with Americans. What a strange world we live in when so many Americans are looking to Russia to save us from a government we, ourselves, are supposed to be in control of. The war for humanity will escalate and rage on until the American people themselves come to terms with what we have let our country become due to greed and apathy.
I expect karma to come and not treat kindly all those who have turned a blind eye to the death and destruction they have enabled by their own willful ignorance. Often I think myself and my family may become casualties in that and I do accept that, as others in countries we have destroyed have been forced to accept it.
This global struggle always gets referred to as a game of chess, where all but the king are pieces to be sacrificed. The reality is far more ugly and pointless where people who have no strategic value to either side are heartlessly and violently wiped off the face of this earth never to be brought upon the table of life again. This should disturb people to the point of rising up against the evil in power to stop this but those who have not personally suffered such a loss simply do not care about others.
Reminds me of a few lines from Unforgiven.
Dying sheriff: I didn’t deserve this
Eastwood:
Motorola’s killing was one more loss in the Battle for the Human Soul.Here is one tribute to him,of which I believe, will be many in the coming days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOrXi3gp7mc
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” says Our Lord Jesus Christ. He, the Son of God, by dying on the Cross and rising again on the third day, has overcome the Evil One, Satan.
We need to cling to God and love Him and our neighbor as our selves and so do our part to change the world, one little step at a time.
If we feel helpless in the face of all the evil then let us lift up our hearts to Heaven and beg God to come to our aid and for His Grace to enter our cold hearts, especially of those who are in fact our enemies. Enemies of truth, beauty, justice. They may have all the worldly wealth and power but their souls they cannot save and will be required by God at the appointed time. For all eternity they will be subject to the greatest of torments, the torment of having lost Eternal Love. Yes, they will (like all of us) stand before the Tribunal of God. We all have the choice. Justice will be done. have faith!!
Pax Christi!
My first instinct is to resist the resurgence of religiosity in our public spaces, there were very good reasons why we expelled them in the first place. I am literally in the first generation born since the Summer of Love, and as such I am still living the experiment kicked of during my childhood socialisation. I went to great public schools which were staffed by many principled truth-seekers; this was before the Sociology crowd started working their magic. I remember in late high school (1987), young female sociology graduates came into our school and taught us about stereotyping. We are seeing the apex of their program playing out in our public spaces now; gay marriage, transgender bathrooms and asexuality. Having been socialised by the counter-culture I was receptive to the message of the New Left, and what is not to like about opposing discrimination, injustice and social dictatorship. But what some call ‘cultural Marxism’ (a term I reject, what they are doing has nothing to do with opposing the Ruling Class) is slowly turning the first generation of the New Left off the whole project. In the end all this social engineering is breaking our social bonds (family, community, nation), which is to the advantage of the imperial capitalist class.
The resulting loss of identity, social strength and moral fortitude seems to be driving people back to religion. While I am an atheist, I sent my daughters to a Catholic school. This is mainly the result of State policy which has gutted Public schools, coupled with the social engineering coming out of Ivory Tower. If I were building a education system from scratch, I could not do better than the Catholic schools my girls went to. They are very light on scripture, there is no mention of the devil or eternal damnation, and even very little to do with God. They have taught my children the practical morality of helping the disadvantaged, of personal responsibility, the importance of family and community, and the fact of our beauty and uniqueness. None of my children have chosen religion as a life choice; but instead we Do What Jesus Would Do (just not in his name).
Part of me is worried seeing so many of you referring to religion in your posts. The secular quarantining of religion into the private space is vitally important for the peace and cohesion of our societies. But the time has come to defend the realm from evil, and as planned our societies have been white-anted by Liberalism (selfishness), Capitalism (greed) and Representation (apathy) (what I call the three Evil Sisters of the West). I have always supported people’s personal religious choice (as Mr. Lennon said, what ever gets you through the night is alright), as long as it wasn’t being shoved down my throat. Our social cohesion is under such a threat, and the hour is getting late, so I have moved on religion. With a book on Witch trials, Dark Ages, Crusades, Inquisitions and Jihads in one hand, I am prepared to see the enemy of my enemy as my friend. If some people require religion to make our families and societies whole, I won’t stand in the way. It is that urgent.
Peace be upon us all
Earthrise: Thanks for great post and welcome here; I am a fellow American of your generation. Our generation has a lot to mull over; it ain’t black and white, to be sure, but there was a hell of a lot of (to be kind) crap and (to be unkind) evil mixed in with that doctrine of the wonderful giving of the West to help the lot of the poor, women, other societies, all over the planet. I’ve seen it first hand. Perhaps, like the German cineastes after WW2, we should analyse not only ourselves but our parents. My parents were true believers in the West, no matter how “Left” their personal reading tastes may have been. They were certainly, in an academic caste way, inward-bound. They didn’t reach out to common people. I escaped from this trap as early as possible (i.e. way before voting age; I left home at age 15 and survived very well, thank you, as many of my friends did too).
I encourage you to look beyond our stereotypes of “Christianity” as we were taught the subject: Catholic vs. Protestant. The Orthodox are something we were never taught about. Poking around OrthodoxWiki reveals a lot of issues that show a whole other side of what Christianity could be. And I am no more a self-proclaiming Christian than you are… though I’m not saying I’m not a Christian at heart, or trying to be worthy of becoming one. I love Taoism, Old-school Shamanism, and… Orthodox Christianity as I’m beginning to understand it. I actually think the Chinese Taoists had it right since Lao Tzu, the Chinese Internal Martial Arts attest to a long chain through the centuries of watching nature and trying their best not to go _against_ nature. I love their applied natural sciences like TCM and Tai Chi and the other internal arts. However, if you look at the Orthodox Wikis, it turns out there were a lot of things the Catholics and Protestants changed… Believe me, I have read my Gibbon and have no illusions about the delusions and schisms of early Christianity. No delusions about all the innocent blood shed in wars of who-is-or-isn’t-the-heretic. All I’m saying is, the Orthodox mentality has taught me something… way, way more than anything the Deadheads taught me (which wasn’t _nothing_, thank you for survival tips!) in the Upper Haight in Dot Com numero uno. Sorry to rant and thank you for your excellent post and congrats on finding a high school, of any kind, that your kids got through without being totally soul-destroyed. Love, I.E. p/s Winston O’Boogie quote appreciated and grokked.
Internal Exile USA,
Thank you Friend, and for “grokked”; added that one to the database :)
@ earthrise
I’m with you, wholly. I was part of that movement: challenge everything, marriage, family, sexual differentiation, religion, morality,
@ earthrise
lost my post, againandagain..
…Iwas listing things we weretold to challenge: … community,, national identity, and all the values that were paramount since the beginning of humanity. Challenge everything, but not the state, its institutions and structures. Everything has been hijacked and we are left alone, empty, alienated and less human.
“The resulting loss of identity, social strength and moral fortitude seems to be driving people back to religion. While I am an atheist, I sent my daughters to a Catholic school. “
Why not just do this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Soviet_Union
“These systems really encouraged collectivism within the classroom. Brigades and pioneer troops had to succeed as a group, and if an individual was bringing down the class, they would be singled out, not in a malicious manner, but with a desire to help. Other members of the group would come up with ways that everyone could contribute to the cause of helping that one student succeed. This was usually done during group meetings or through the use of wall-newspapers (a newspaper with current school happenings that was periodically posted on school walls).[23] During the first Five-Year plan, the role of the family in childcare was emphasized. This was not because the state trusted the family to properly raise children, but because orphanages, kindergartens, and schools were overwhelmed with the task of raising children and relying on the family became a way to relieve pressure on these institutions.”
PS: do you seriously think we just popped out of nowhere?
Indeed, comrade, thanks for the comment and the link.
I regret that Earthrise has sucumbed to the years of propaganda to achieve that Marxism, Socialism and the good values of the Left were demonized in such a form that he even regret his leftist education. Obviously, he is not to blame since the roots and organization of Fascism in the US are so ancient that I even would discuss the atributted German origins of sych ideology.
I recently got interested in La Rouche Movement from a comment I saw in the10/10/16 cafe.
Have any of you here what have had the evolution of this movement from declaring themselves Marxists, then Trotskyites to in a moment in the slotvof 4 months turn to the far right?Did you know that one former member of OSS considered their intelligence department as “the best private intelligence service ” and that in a certain moment they were contacted by the CIA abd NSA since then are dedicated to infiltrate the left, received military trainning and are considered to have achieved to totally confuse and dismantle the US left?
Have you ever wonder why there are so many sects in the US, btw, fighting for your human soul?
You have the Quaqers ( just where LaRouche was raised ), the
Mormons, the Amish, the Scientology, this Rudolf Steiner ( smells ñike a sect even from here ) thing, LaRouche Pac, ( who claim themselves Christians, if I did not misunderstood, the KKK……and
so on and so on…..
No, Uncle Bob 1, nor anybody else from the US claimming for the Russians to solve this issue which is not a problem exclusive of the Ukraine and I fear was not birth neither there nor even in Europe, but I fear is rooted in the very foundations of your country, the USA.
“Fascism in the US”
https://culturaproletaria.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/fascismo-en-ee-uu/
Anyway, Earthrise, if your children have been taught in the values you tell, then you did probably the best election available in such a country. I do not discard really honest religious people working for respect and solidarity amongst human beings, only I would have doubts about critical thinking being also thought in a religious school.
Fatima, like I said in answer to your café post with WikiLeaks link attached, other than 46 year members of the International Caucus of Labor Committees, it might be (since no one answered you in more than a day, so far), that I will be of some help in digging more efficiently into the LaRouche Movement.
The left/right paradigm is of some limited use in that regard. But the “right wing” label which was slung in the 80s by establishment attack/lapdogs like Chip Berlet and Dennis King to terminate “left” support garnered in the 70s is absurd.
From the left, however, there is no denying the old issue of Campaigner Magazine whose lead article was, “What Only Communists Know”. Mid 70s Edition.
As I spottily reported else where, I saw Webster Tarpley give a presentation on the West Coast @ 1979 entitled Douglas MacArthur vs the British (US State Dept, and puppet Truman) and in 1990 was a dinner guest of F William Engdahl and his German wife, in Wiesbaden.
Eimar dug up an old Campaigner article by Nancy Bradeen critical of the slave labor brainwashing in the kibbutz system in Israel, a few months ago. That was also from the 70s. Later she used her maiden name Spannaus. She served as Editor of the New Federalist newspaper for decades, put in 40+ years into the fight, but is no longer in those ranks. Divorces and separations happen!
On a political deployment to the West Coast in the early 90s she was a guest of me and my wife in our apartment for two nights.
So, in regards to that movement, which I still maintain contact with, I think I can provide some valuable leads to you or others, no matter whether the intent of the digging is positive confirmation or negative refutation, a good argument or a late night toast to humanity’s victory over its parasitic oligarchy. Sometimes it changes. Dig deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring!
“parasitic oligarchy”
That is exactly what is behind the Foxconn/Apple relationship – if you don’t do drugs there must be airborne hallucenogenic in CA.
Definitely some long drying out needed before an even longer cure.
Thank you everyone for your time and wisdom,
I still see myself as a child of the West, and also a dyed-in-the-wool Leftie. I have journeyed through all the Left perspectives, and what an experience it has been. I have seen the futility of trying to change things through the Parliamentary system; it is designed to frustrate and transform popular movements. I have wept for what the USSR did to communism. I have personed the picket line, stood before the crowd holding a microphone, marched holding a banner, sat in the committees, organised the campaigns and ran for office. All this was a waste, and only served to burn up my time and passion. After all this what I found is I could instead spend that time and energy actually changing things for the better in my local community. And if everyone else does that same, the world then becomes the place we dream of. I am reminded of a Confucian proverb; change your life, which changes your family, which changes your village, which changes the world. Otherwise all we are doing is venting our frustration into the wind.
If you have read my comments elsewhere, I am a fierce critic of the West (or what we have become). I have also become a critic of the Left, and as such have move closer to the balance point. I find the Old Left is still sticking to ideas that belong in the 19th century (workplace organising, when many of us are unemployed). Revolution, when the word itself gives it away; round and round, back to the same point. Working within the (parliamentary) system, when it is designed to frustrate that effort. And more recently I have turned on the Sociology Brigade (I am a Sociology major), as their social engineering is going too far. “Be the change you want to see” is my mantra these days, as in the end politics follows culture.
To close, a story I once heard:
Our society is like a seesaw. One end all the rich and powerful people are large rocks in a wicker basket, so the seesaw is weighed down at their end. On the other end is another wicker basket, and we each put a teaspoon of sand in there (representing the good things we do in our lives). As soon as we put it in, it flows out the holes in the bottom. But the more of us who put their sand in this basket, the fuller it gets; the rate going in starts to beat the rate bleeding out. If this continues, the basket of sand fills up, and the seesaw shifts.
Come put your sand in with mine.
Beautiful post; “Be the change you want to see…” Works for me as practical mantra to put a self back together again. Our system has robbed us and our children of a lot, but we still have so much left, and we have to use it!
I also don’t see meaningful change happening in any other way. We’ve had enough talk of Hope and Change in this mess to fill a billion dumpsters.
I’ve also been discovering/recovering the true friends and letting go the scammers and the users. There are actually a lot of great people in this country who are merely confused and scared and under-informed, but also hungry for something, anything, other than what they’re fed.
And most important of all: John 14:6 Jesus said unto him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
It is a very important quote but one that lends itself to a bit of historical background.
When christianity started, it was all about the golden rule. Treat others as you want to be treated. So the first christians got persecuted mercilessly. Jesus himself was crucified by Pilate. Later, in the third century, emperor Constantine reformed the empire and made christianity the official state religion.
Today, when the empire invades a country it will say as George Bush used to say before Iraq: God bless america! One thing to remember though: To enter heaven, one needs to have the innocence of a child. Except that when the empire teach us about religion, we lose our innocence.
Thiamin,
“To enter heaven, one needs to have the innocence of a child. Except that when the empire teach us about religion, we lose our innocence.”
Religion = maintaining our innocence. Thank you for this wisdom.
Too late, I already took a bite from the apple :)
I agree that is what Religion means to our rulers, and the two have always been symbiotes (Kings and Priests). But when I read Genesis, I get a different take. The Creator gave us free will, then told us not eat the fruit (from the Tree of Knowledge). Come on, we were meant to eat the fruit, it is implied in the command. Eden is not heaven, it was our womb. We are not supposed to go back to the womb, but to evolve to the point we can sit next to our Creator. I agree with you that the Church teaches us to maintain our innocence, but this only helps our rulers to control us. And I guess, ignorance is bliss so in this state we could be happier. But if we were meant to be ignorant, we would not have been given free will, nor would the temptation of Knowledge be dangled before us. The journey to Enlightenment was meant to be hard, it is the forge that crafts our spirits.
Innocence is for children, we are destined for greater things.
You do not agree with me. Truly I tell you, if you had the innocence I speak of, you will know that heaven is here now. The church is lying to you if it tells you that it can give you what is already here.
Follow the golden rule and forget about the serpent and the apple. They have no authority over you.
Thanks for that fascinating exchange. I agree with Thiamin, and the problem in the West, sometimes is this word “innocence”. You can look at innocence and then loss of innocence, i.e., knowing what innocence is not. “Innocence”, the way I perceive Thiamin’s post, is not the state of being an ignorant dope or foolish child. It’s looking at the world fresh and perceiving the heaven that is right here, all around us, within us.
Really, IMO reading the New Testament after the Old is like having the sun come up after a dreary and bloody night. We have enough quotes from J.C., including excluded Gospels like Thomas, to form some kind of idea of what he said. I think the evidence is clear, just reading the two books next to each other. J.C.’s words were light shining through sheer corrupt imperial darkness, not to mention the bizarre Pharisee-Kultur that J.C. happened to appear in.
I think the people who say J.C. didn’t exist are spinning ludicrous wheels — what he said, in that time and place, was so revolutionary that historians of any era could scarcely have invented him.
And of course, we grow up and lose innocence and eat apples (no offense to apples), but true Love with a capital L, as well as poetic and artistic inspiration, and most other things that don’t originate with Greed and Looking Out for Number One, involve taking all that cool and uncool stuff you accumulate over a life and jumping, willingly, off a cliff into that curious state of spontaneous joy we can call “innocence”. And I also believe, barring the 20% psychos currently running the place, that most people have an innate sense of right and wrong and good and evil.
Correctly, Earthrise states that cleaning up begins at home, i.e. with yourself. Trying to be a better person, a better friend, a better neighbor… it’s not naive, it’s common sense and the decent thing to do. The truly Orthodox Christians have this trip about actually practicing what they preach. I like the can-do approach, rather like what the Chinese did to Buddhism — they turned it into Zen, which basically states that being religious does not merely mean meditating all day to levitate off the ground in samadhi, but to seriously start to appreciate and enjoy life and be grateful for one’s blessings, which, God willing, are usually right there under your nose and you’ve been ignoring them. If that’s “innocence”, bring it on! Also, humility and a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go I with one’s society, helps a lot with inbred American arrogance, which the Universities in this country are full of. (They’ll deny it till the cows come home, I have Thanksgiving with them every year, I have some clue…)
p/s Earthrise: You have the Sociology background/baggage? My parents were Anthropologists and expected me to follow in their paths. No way, Jose. Both fields are classic Roads to Hell paved with Decent Intentions. The only career you get these days in Anth is an indoctrination minister in University or a spook! Looking forward to discussing more in Cafe one of these days, thanks to both of you for real inspiration. (apologies to mods for garralous rant)
Internal Exile USA,
Great to hear you speak of the Christ in revolutionary terms. The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most important passages in the history of human liberation. I see him as a non-violent revolutionary, a commune leader, and in the end an anti-Caesar. I love the idea of the coming Kingdom of Heaven (on Earth), very similar to the Marxist utopia. None of my love for his philosophy, example and his place in our eventual liberation relies on him being divine. His story is stronger because he is one of us, the Son of Man (sic) rather than the Son of God.
I found Sociology at Uni by accident. Started as a History/Politics degree, then I took a Sociology 101 course as an elective, and absolutely loved it. It taught me what we call the Sociological Imagination, a relative way of looking at the world using politics, history, anthropology and psychology. A fascinating subject, especially for a leftie.
But social science is an imperfect tool. Since the 70’s many lefties have entered the bureaucracy and used this discipline to affect social change. The product of weakening important social institutions like family and community are having devastating effects on our social cohesion. People call this ‘Cultural Marxism’, and I can see why as Marx is a very important to Sociology. But identity issues have nothing to do with liberating us all from the ruling class, so in the end this term is a slur.
I haven’t visited the cafe yet, see you there soon.
Relevant to this conversation is the teaching “Be ye wise as serpents, but innocent as doves.”
It seems that there is an original innocence like the child, an original state of consciousness in the creator ‘womb’ as was poetically stated by Earthrise. In this child womb state we did net know of evil or anything other than the bliss of goodness. But the story goes that the serpent tempted us with knowledge of good and evil, for the first time ‘we knew that we were naked”. The operative words are ‘knowledge’ and ‘knew’. A different condition of consciousness came about- a knowing of ourselves separate from the creator- outside the womb- with choices. Every child goes through this in a biographical way as well.
Free will is the possibility to choose which state of consciousness we want to have. We can return to a “knowing innocence”, out of free will we align ourselves with divine Will and the wisdom of the creation. We can also chose remain separate- completely free to choose who we want to be- even to to do evil and disdain God. The gift of freedom was bestowed upon humanity out of love. We are not compelled to love our creator. Then we would not be free.
We have the possibility to evolve a ‘knowing innocence’, in which we are aware both of our connection to the divine, and of the potential to follow the serpent, even to do evil. This is a further step in consciousness, and a certain responsibility comes with this. We are to be aware of the serpent, and protect our innocence and the fundamental innocence of all people and the creation.
Religious institutions have tried to ‘brand’ this truth, by creating various moralistic rules that supposedly insure an entrance to heaven. But this is a misunderstanding. Following rules does not change consciousness.
My daily practice to stay connected to this innocence involves, cultivating a quiet pervasive inner feeling of humility. It is the blessing of humility that permits access to a feeling of something so much greater than ourselves, and to come to real inner experience of a source of Divine Love. I am also awake to the presence of other sources- the serpent or Prince of this World. I choose to wear the armor of God’s Love, and wrestle against principalities and powers- within and without.
K
You understand me.
http://image.slidesharecdn.com/akianekramarik-painterinspiredbygodi-100402212249-phpapp01/95/akiane-kramarik-painter-inspired-by-godi-44-728.jpg?cb=12702434
Akiane Kramarik was only 12 years old when she made this painting and explained the meaning of the word innocence. I could never hope to be as eloquent as she is. I find the girl to be absolutely gorgeous. I suspect the sparkle in her eye comes from visions of the kingdom of heaven that sadly most of us cannot see yet. I believe everyone has the potential to see into the unseen realms created by God. It only takes a willingness to look. Your reference to Zen meditation is very important, I have found it to be a most excellent tool for spiritual development.
My visions, when they come, are in my dreams. This is where I am looking to find my truths. This is why my reply is so late, I was unable to get out of bed.
But if we were meant to be ignorant, we would not have been given free will
So, we have lost our free will in heaven – since we are no longer disobedient?
Ahh, bliss, perfect bliss (who cares if it’s ignorant bliss ;-)
Congratulations! This comment certainly deserves to be awarded with a special position. Indeed a very well summarized and deep analysis of our current situation. Before knowing it would be posted here, I copied it in my FB status!
BTW, looking into some fresh conspiration -theories, I came across this article. Enjoy!
http://www.theeventchronicle.com/editors-pick/puppets-no-review-dark-nobility-political-situation-behind-scenes/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=The%20Event%20Handbook&utm_content=PUPPETS%20NO%20MORE%20-%20A%20Review%20of%20the%20(Dark%20Nobility)%20Political%20Situation%20Behind%20The%20Scenes
There are many wise sayings regarding truth: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/truth
The highest and purest truth I have ever found is brotherly love, care of the other, collective concern.
Theodore McIntire
How the trick is done.
(Warning, this post uses a covert hypnotic method to teach this method)
In 1993 I was on AOL.com when AOL opened its gateway to ‘the internet’. I bought a massive index of Internet Resources. A thick section was devoted to something called USENET. It listed all these weird chat groups. Next to some of the chat groups was a description of what the group was about. I noted two of them, and marked them to log on and check it out.
One said alt.clearing.technology “Renegades from the Church of Scientology”
Another said alt.religion.scientology “He’s dead, Jim”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3at_Ev2kOoI
I posted on alt.clearing.technology my name and asked if anyone I knew from scientology was a round… I got a reply from a man I had not talked with in 25 years. Joe Harrington. Who admitted being the anonymous nick Scamizdat that posted all the secret scientology rubbish, its OT levels. Joe admitted on his death bed, also being the one who mailed me the Fishman Affidavit.
I dealt with scientology paid operatives, online for a decade, after they admitted a few of them under oath, in requests for admissions in RTC vs Lerma. And I was told recently that scientology currently pays 800 a week for online writers.
I concluded from observation, that “The best place to hide something is right in front of you”. Then, reading Francis Stonnor’s deprogramming book “The CIA, and the World of Arts and Letters” he said that “The best place to hide something is in plain sight” was a CIA Maxim. He also said that “Psychology is the religion of the new world order”
The same advances in certitude in psychology for controlling what a man believes to be true, that Robert Oppenhiemer warned about in 1952, and said such power makes the atomic bomb seem trivial. < He used the word trivial.
It may be helpful if you haven't read them, to read my blog pages. That understanding will give what follows additional needed emotional traction, considering the circumstance.
And I wish someone would explain this more clearly, I am doing the best I can with difficult material to think with.
Here goes, the biggest secret of all.
Truth is encountered at the center of concentric circles of delusion, like the cross section of an onion.
Truth is surrounded by lies. Lies that are directed into your subconscious as truth because they are delivered immediately after you had stopped thinking.
Layers of deception, layers of lies.
Without truth all is delusion, So there is nothing real to lose by its pursuit.
A good question is aimed as best one can toward revelation of the core of the truth.
To continue with the onion of deception and for example:
If I wished to covertly hypnotize you, I must stop your thinking. (What is this guy going on about?) Then anything I tell you will be true for you.
The worst smell to a human is the smell of burning human flesh. If you were to LIE in a manner that implies and/or induces thinking of “the smell of burning human flesh” THINKING IMMEDIATELY STOPS. It might be safe to assume this reaction is coded into our DNA.
When you STOP thinking, you leave the door to your subconscious open and unguarded to accept everything you are told as true.
The father of militarized hypnosis, Dr George Estabrooks, said in 1943:
“Anything said to a hypnotized subject is true for them.”
This is how the trick is done. Please, spend some time thinking about this.
Yup excellent choice for select comment.
Hope this commentator stays with us.
Why does God permit suffering? He answered that question and all other such questions in the parallels set between the visible and spiritual.. (Romans 1:20) .. The silver is dropped into the furnace to remove the dross. The skillful smith removes it from the fire when he can see his own reflection.