I'm sitting here in the evening, it's raining outside in Bremerton, Washington. I'm watching Netflix, a show called, Peaky Blinders. Great show. About 19th century England. Gangs. Reminiscent of The Wind in That Shakes the Barley, Perhaps, especially because of actor Cillian Murphy and his being Irish and all, being born in County Cork (I rather liked visiting Cork). and all that.
It's no secret I'm rather partial to the Irish. Being half myself, all on my dad's side of the family. Having had a rather, albeit confused, understanding as a youth of my ethnic responsibilities and well... I do understand enjoying a good conspiracy. Especially for a good reason and all. A good... guerilla fight against greater odds, can be inspiring. Even, addicting. Especially to the disaffected and those who have little control over their lives, or who simply feel that way.
Early in high school I had learned about the troubles from a documentary. I'd long known I was half Irish, that my dad was Irish. I grew up with my mother, after they divorced when I was three. She always celebrated St. Patrick's Day. I remember a banner of cut out, green, "Erin Go Bragh" (or, Éirinn go Brách, Meaning "Ireland forever" in Gaelic) every year hanging in the house.
I hardly ever saw my dad after that and never did after I was sixteen, until he died in 1988. I doubt he ever had a thought himself about Ireland. But I did. I even tried to talk friends, fellow students in tenth grade into going with me to Ireland to fight in the Troubles. Well, it didn't happen. I had no money to get there. I doubt they'd have even wanted me. But that, is a story for another time. Or not.
Anyway, that's how I was at that time. I even wrote a screenplay about what I was like back then. The Teenage Bodyguard, is about a situation I got myself into just after graduating high school. Over the course of a week in 1974, I protected a murder witness from the local mafia.
Great story and a screenplay that is being liked every time it's seen or evaluated. "So why isn't it on the screen already somewhere", one reviewer asked in their review from BlueCat screenplay contest. Another from The Blacklist coverage said it was "a viable project that should be pursued". And so I am.
I kept finding myself in interesting situation back then. I don't know why. Mainly, because people kept asking me to act as a bodyguard for them. First was that frightened woman who asked me to protect her for a week when I was eighteen from some murderers she had worked with at Tacoma's first topless bar, The Tiki, run by the Carbone crime family.
A year later at nineteen, my own mother asked me to be my little brother's bodyguard in Manhattan. She was afraid if he got roughed up during a robbery, he could die inbeing so thin and fragile with liver cancer at the time. There had also been a rash of apartment break ins at that time. So I slept in our small studio apartment on the floor, with my .357 magnum next to me just in case someone tried to break in at 2AM or something.
I had also protected a variety of others off and on over the years. Gamblers wit cash coming to town, a big construction magnate's horse farm at the end of a road where I lived for a while, and so on.
My point being, I do get it. This whole, desire to go to battle, take on great odds, test yourself and live the life of excitement and adventure. it's kind of dumb for most, but I get the attraction.
As I watch this great show (Peaky Blinders), and sip some red wine (yes, there's Guinness in the fridge, but it's wine tonight, forgive me St. Guinness), I understand the feeling that there is no downtown here to go to, to meet locally with other frustrated or angry conspirators in some shady bar, to have talks, to sneak to covert meetings, to talk about how the government is abusing us unfairly and unjustly. How our enemies really have to go. At all costs. Or any. All of that. Not unlike our Founding Fathers did in local Freemason lodges, mostly held at or above local public (drinking) houses (pubs?).
I do get all of that. I understand that feeling. That focus. The mystery. The excitement. The addictive fear. The call to a cause greater than oneself. The ability to be something, right now, immediately. To evoke change when nothing else is happening in one's life. To achieve something now with power when no one else will give you that kind of responsibility or command over other human beings. Even to the point of taking their lives. Even if they are innocent.
I get all that.Well, not so much the taking of innocent lives. I really don't get that. Especially when they are your own. But I get it for a young testosterone filled young man, or woman. Or for one whose family and loved ones are indeed being abused if not murdered by the state as others in other countries have had to suffer through. I get that. I really do.
I doubt it's much different for terrorists in other countries, even in our own country in how some can misguidedly perceive our own reality in America as deserving of terrorism..The home of their ancestry. Maybe. But then, not a lot of Native Americans are terrorists. Some who are not even of that abused ancestry but who understand, empathize, with them. Who feel compassion for their seemingly just cause. Like non Muslims who go to fight with them.
I get all that.
The trouble is... it's nonsense. Mostly. For the most part. 99% of it anyway.
Those are the rumblings of a young man high on testosterone so much of the time. Give them a call to arms... oh my God. They will be there!
But there is another side. There will be those they harm. The innocent. Those they blind themselves about but who do matter, and greatly so. They become blinded by the fog of war and idealism. But not of conscience. And so innocents die. For no good reason.
Not until their hacked minds, hacked by disingenuous ones who put not themselves into danger but those of a younger cohort. Where justice turns into criminal actions and heroes become terrorists. There is brainwashing going on. Media is part of the problem. those manipulating it are more so. Be they Russian hackers joyriding or actually paid by Putin. Or Islamic terrorist leaders or simply... Facebook.
I'm glad I lived through those cold war years. I'm also glad I didn't have to grow up in Belfast or an Ireland under British rule where my ancestors were so abused and genocide wasn't a ridiculous word to banter about. When some Irish tried to eat grass due to starvation during the potato famine, where the dead and emaciated were found in fields with mouths stained green.
My terrorist cell is based in words, not guns, in political actions, not bombs.
It is civilized, not barbaric. I'll kill no innocents. My terrorist cell, does not exist. Because I do not believe in terrorizing human beings. Or anyone. Or anything. It's a bully behavior, that of an immature mind, or mindset.
There is a time for violence. To be sure. But it is far less often than many would like to admit.
And that includes our American born terrorists. Those Christian misguided fools who have killed too many in our country already and should never again. And then there is simply mental illness, and social illness.
Do Act. But at some point we have to see as a race of intelligent beings that death simply isn't always the answer. While in some countries it may be necessary, at certain times, in ours it simply is not.
We have a disease in this country. It is conservatism. It is binary thinking. It is in authoritarian attitudes, having them, or adoring them. It is poor priorities. It is extremists. It is the far right politically motivated. It is the ignorant, the poorly educated, the incorrectly educated, those who believe in alternate facts, alternate realities, alternate morality, alternator mental health.
We need instead to seek out our best nature in life, not our worst.
We need to bring down our worst, and simply refuse to be a part of it.
#terrorism #peace #isis #racism
Monday, January 29, 2018
Monday, January 22, 2018
Problems with American Mindworm Religious Faiths
Faith. There is a problem with it. We hadn't seen the problem (though many actually did and at times were literally burned at the stake for it) for thousands of years. But with instant media it is becoming painfully clear. It has even led in part of late to an inability to discern what is and what is not self-evident.
I know I have made a run at this topic in the past, and I may well revisit it again in the future...until I get it right. Here goes....
In epistemology (theory of knowledge), a self-evident proposition is a proposition that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof, and/or by ordinary human reason. - Wikipedia
We have apparently lost the ability to see what was once simply self-evident. That has been destroyed on purpose by the American political right wing. And religion has more than a little to do with it.
There is indeed a problem with religious "faith", with religion, certainly with American Republican thinking and, most assuredly with American conservatism, most especially with extreme conservatism.
On that last, I have always said conservatism is dangerous. To survive one must be progressive. Conservatism wishes to maintain the status quo. But to maintain a status quo counter intuitively requires progress, while attempting to remain the same. Everything around us, including time, moves on either with or without us. To stay the same, one must change. And to change, is to progress.
Faith in our more ancient and ignorant times, when we did not have science or rational explanations for much of reality, served a great purpose. It served a purpose in times of no recourse when facing pain and even death. Without much explanation available for most of what happened in life, it served a valuable purpose to humanity.
It allowed one to be able to continue in blind acceptance of what was believed to be true, of what had to be true. That brought along with it the hope that needs to be, very real for one going through extraordinary trials and tribulations.
If one had faith, if one simply believed something could be done against all odds, that one could be successful and survive to enjoy the benefits of those trials, well? What could be more powerful?
If however one simply looked at the same situation, without religious faith but rather with determination and a focus to achieve above and at all costs, that one could find a way to be successful without calling to a "higher power", that one could somehow be around to enjoy the benefits of those efforts through those trials, even if one had to give up all consideration of surviving in accepting one's potential demise, that one could be successful merely through one's own efforts, then that too would be a very powerful thing.
But that's not as pretty. Not as easy to do. It requires thought, intellect, effort, education, rather than simply ignorance and blind belief. We are at a point now in human evolution when we can achieve these things without beliefs in etheralism.
The argument is that the difference between the two is if you do hit that wall where you lose your faith or lose your desire to continue, to where things have become so difficult as to see no way out to success, religious faith, based on a god, on an afterlife, could conceivably give you that extra boost to continue even after most would have given up. Especially if you throw in things like burning in Hell for all eternity if you give up, especially if giving up could be considered suicide and that requires your damnation.
That is a big part of the whole faith issue. A warning of punishment even after death. Or a kind of capitalistic reward if one acts in the appropriate ways. Ways typically defined by one's religious leaders and not just one's religion.
In ancient times when there were few realistic explanations for so many things, faith was extremely important and powerful and, eminently useful. However nowadays we have a far better understanding of things, and of the universe. We do not need so much faith to carry us over and through fears of demons, of things larger than in life. That we might just continue on even as we might once have perceived our end into the very pits of Hell for our God and our beliefs.
That's all fine and good, but the problem with all this is exactly the kind of things we're seeing today.
It has all been abused. Warped toward self interests and agendas, much as it actually always has been all through time, since the original incorporation of religion. When those who ruled first discovered the power therein and how they could control (and abuse) followers and believers.
This is something I've been saying this for years. Religion, is itself a mind, or a brain "worm".
As a mindworm originally referred to a song or melody that gets stuck in your mind and you cannot stop hearing it. As a song with a certain format can easily lend itself to that condition (think, advertising "jingle" for instance), in being the fruit of a concept that is essentially a mindworm. It is merely something to achieve in the industries of marketing or song writing. To force people to remember a product or the song itself so hopefully consumers will buy it.
As it is also in politics and today in the business of religion, to burn concepts into an electorate's or religious follower's minds, to achieve and maintain power and position for the leaders.
Religion, is itself one of those mindworms and can be used to sway and control. Just as it can be in politics. Just as we're seeing today in the conservative right in politics, which also lends itself to that condition in part because they have been conditioned through centuries of religion to accept concepts they would or should never accept. But because of their conditioning through religion, because of religion's place in humanity, they can find themselves in some very odd conundrums.
Like supporting someone like Donald J. Trump to become president, even to the point of supporting his most insane, ridiculous and damaging behaviors. It is the reason that conservatism, the Republican party and the far political right are so very dysfunctional today as seen by the median of American culture.
In conditioning and having used and abused American Christian Evangelical techniques, conservative politicos have brainwashed their electorate over time to the point that they no longer relate to or recognize reality. It doesn't help, as theists attend churches, that they also attend Fox News in some very similar ways. It has even seeped into the minds of those who would vehemently claim atheist orientations.
They can be some of the worst, because they more so than the other, have a great difficulty in seeing how they got to where they are since they now refuse to admit any religious conditioning at all. Since they are (now) atheists.
Along with conservative politicians diluting facts to the point of having no meaning, calling anyone or thing that disagrees with them as "fake news", always pointing the finger at others for their own behaviors, even having the support of a foreign power (Russian through Putin), we have now today's Republican party and their defective Trump administration. And they can't even see this.
Because of all this, America is no long a democracy but an oligarchy, just as the BBC article details.
This is not, or this should not be how one achieves and maintains power.
Though actually it is a very functional way. Even if morality and ethics dictate that it should never be done. However in a universe now where one believes it is necessary to win at any and all costs, where the ends always justifies the means, where the individuals is more important than all citizens against just one side's electorate, regardless how much damage it creates, it is a very viable tool. It is and always has been an effective authoritarian tool, a primary fascist tool. A tool of the despot, of the dictator, of the elite over the masses who lack any actual control. Except for themselves as a whole.
Therefore they need to be separated and pigeonholed to dilute their power. When that happens it is one of the greatest travesties of democracy and such that all who oppose it (Russia for instance, Putin most especially), cherish it greatly. Because, it works.
And we're seeing this in America, now. Most prominently, by the current Pres. Trump.
A direct line can be traced through religion to conservatism and Evangelism, to American Republicanism, to an American (as well as Russian, through their interventions) Oligarchy.
But let's return to two terms in particular and define "mindworm" in this context and, American evangelicalism.
In Christianity, Evangelism is the commitment to or act of publicly preaching of the Christian Gospel with the intention of spreading the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. - Wikipedia
The issue therein is with modern methodology as developed over time in America. The differences between Education and indoctrination (or brain washing as in cults) can be enigmatic. Education relies heavily upon actual facts, reality, while indoctrination can easily rely mostly on the ends justifying the means, regardless what is being proposed.
It in part depends upon the child evangelism movement, a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century. It focused on the 4/14 Window which centered on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. (Wikipedia, referred here to Luis Bush). The Christian music industry has also played a significant role in modern evangelism, as well as of late, their growing film industry. There are sure to be others to follow as one succeeds and supplies money to other newer endeavors.
This necessarily needs us to refer to "Deprogramming which refers to measures that claim to assist a person who holds a controversial belief system in changing those beliefs and abandon their allegiance to the religious, political, economic, or social group associated with the belief system. - Wikipedia
We do not have deprogramming in politics. But we need to.
Though there is no realistic way to treat the disaffected individuals and groups. To rectify it requires education (also to inoculate them in the first place). Education is something the conservative right and Republicans in general have continually defunded and attempted to support instead, "charter schools" and "home schooling" to allow their mindworm beliefs to be perpetuated untampered with by reality or more rational and reasonable outside forces (such as the Federal government). This has led to our current somewhat to completely bizarre politics and beliefs, as well as the rise of entities such as Fox News, today as we know them.
The bible proclaims:
"You are the salt of the earth...the light of the world...Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." Matthew 5:13-14; 28:19
In "A Social Psychology of Evangelism" by David G. Meyers and Charles W. Green, they begin by referring to the Principle Three: attitudes follow behavior. Also, "attitude inoculation" which basically is a method to inoculate their beliefs against all rational onslaughts.
That is, to be able to withstand all reality and rationality against one's own personal or group's or tribe's beliefs, regardless how ridiculous they are or how contrary they are to reality in general or even specifically.
There is an odd twisted parallel between certainly the christian religious and American conservative politics. Where God has been replaced by oligarchs and profit. Where following God is following financial and political (because of financial) leaders. Where what is good for us (really for them) is good at all costs. Where we believe through faith what our beliefs are regardless of all reality countering those beliefs.
It is easy for those of us on the outside of American conservative politics to see. One merely needs to point it out. It is after all, quite...self-evident. For those of us who still know what that means, anyway.
However it is nearly impossible for those inculcated into it, for it ever to change for them and therefore, for us all, because of them.
And that, is most definitely a problem.
I know I have made a run at this topic in the past, and I may well revisit it again in the future...until I get it right. Here goes....
In epistemology (theory of knowledge), a self-evident proposition is a proposition that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof, and/or by ordinary human reason. - Wikipedia
We have apparently lost the ability to see what was once simply self-evident. That has been destroyed on purpose by the American political right wing. And religion has more than a little to do with it.
There is indeed a problem with religious "faith", with religion, certainly with American Republican thinking and, most assuredly with American conservatism, most especially with extreme conservatism.
On that last, I have always said conservatism is dangerous. To survive one must be progressive. Conservatism wishes to maintain the status quo. But to maintain a status quo counter intuitively requires progress, while attempting to remain the same. Everything around us, including time, moves on either with or without us. To stay the same, one must change. And to change, is to progress.
Faith in our more ancient and ignorant times, when we did not have science or rational explanations for much of reality, served a great purpose. It served a purpose in times of no recourse when facing pain and even death. Without much explanation available for most of what happened in life, it served a valuable purpose to humanity.
It allowed one to be able to continue in blind acceptance of what was believed to be true, of what had to be true. That brought along with it the hope that needs to be, very real for one going through extraordinary trials and tribulations.
If one had faith, if one simply believed something could be done against all odds, that one could be successful and survive to enjoy the benefits of those trials, well? What could be more powerful?
If however one simply looked at the same situation, without religious faith but rather with determination and a focus to achieve above and at all costs, that one could find a way to be successful without calling to a "higher power", that one could somehow be around to enjoy the benefits of those efforts through those trials, even if one had to give up all consideration of surviving in accepting one's potential demise, that one could be successful merely through one's own efforts, then that too would be a very powerful thing.
But that's not as pretty. Not as easy to do. It requires thought, intellect, effort, education, rather than simply ignorance and blind belief. We are at a point now in human evolution when we can achieve these things without beliefs in etheralism.
The argument is that the difference between the two is if you do hit that wall where you lose your faith or lose your desire to continue, to where things have become so difficult as to see no way out to success, religious faith, based on a god, on an afterlife, could conceivably give you that extra boost to continue even after most would have given up. Especially if you throw in things like burning in Hell for all eternity if you give up, especially if giving up could be considered suicide and that requires your damnation.
That is a big part of the whole faith issue. A warning of punishment even after death. Or a kind of capitalistic reward if one acts in the appropriate ways. Ways typically defined by one's religious leaders and not just one's religion.
In ancient times when there were few realistic explanations for so many things, faith was extremely important and powerful and, eminently useful. However nowadays we have a far better understanding of things, and of the universe. We do not need so much faith to carry us over and through fears of demons, of things larger than in life. That we might just continue on even as we might once have perceived our end into the very pits of Hell for our God and our beliefs.
That's all fine and good, but the problem with all this is exactly the kind of things we're seeing today.
It has all been abused. Warped toward self interests and agendas, much as it actually always has been all through time, since the original incorporation of religion. When those who ruled first discovered the power therein and how they could control (and abuse) followers and believers.
This is something I've been saying this for years. Religion, is itself a mind, or a brain "worm".
As a mindworm originally referred to a song or melody that gets stuck in your mind and you cannot stop hearing it. As a song with a certain format can easily lend itself to that condition (think, advertising "jingle" for instance), in being the fruit of a concept that is essentially a mindworm. It is merely something to achieve in the industries of marketing or song writing. To force people to remember a product or the song itself so hopefully consumers will buy it.
As it is also in politics and today in the business of religion, to burn concepts into an electorate's or religious follower's minds, to achieve and maintain power and position for the leaders.
Religion, is itself one of those mindworms and can be used to sway and control. Just as it can be in politics. Just as we're seeing today in the conservative right in politics, which also lends itself to that condition in part because they have been conditioned through centuries of religion to accept concepts they would or should never accept. But because of their conditioning through religion, because of religion's place in humanity, they can find themselves in some very odd conundrums.
Like supporting someone like Donald J. Trump to become president, even to the point of supporting his most insane, ridiculous and damaging behaviors. It is the reason that conservatism, the Republican party and the far political right are so very dysfunctional today as seen by the median of American culture.
In conditioning and having used and abused American Christian Evangelical techniques, conservative politicos have brainwashed their electorate over time to the point that they no longer relate to or recognize reality. It doesn't help, as theists attend churches, that they also attend Fox News in some very similar ways. It has even seeped into the minds of those who would vehemently claim atheist orientations.
They can be some of the worst, because they more so than the other, have a great difficulty in seeing how they got to where they are since they now refuse to admit any religious conditioning at all. Since they are (now) atheists.
Along with conservative politicians diluting facts to the point of having no meaning, calling anyone or thing that disagrees with them as "fake news", always pointing the finger at others for their own behaviors, even having the support of a foreign power (Russian through Putin), we have now today's Republican party and their defective Trump administration. And they can't even see this.
Because of all this, America is no long a democracy but an oligarchy, just as the BBC article details.
This is not, or this should not be how one achieves and maintains power.
Though actually it is a very functional way. Even if morality and ethics dictate that it should never be done. However in a universe now where one believes it is necessary to win at any and all costs, where the ends always justifies the means, where the individuals is more important than all citizens against just one side's electorate, regardless how much damage it creates, it is a very viable tool. It is and always has been an effective authoritarian tool, a primary fascist tool. A tool of the despot, of the dictator, of the elite over the masses who lack any actual control. Except for themselves as a whole.
Therefore they need to be separated and pigeonholed to dilute their power. When that happens it is one of the greatest travesties of democracy and such that all who oppose it (Russia for instance, Putin most especially), cherish it greatly. Because, it works.
And we're seeing this in America, now. Most prominently, by the current Pres. Trump.
A direct line can be traced through religion to conservatism and Evangelism, to American Republicanism, to an American (as well as Russian, through their interventions) Oligarchy.
But let's return to two terms in particular and define "mindworm" in this context and, American evangelicalism.
In Christianity, Evangelism is the commitment to or act of publicly preaching of the Christian Gospel with the intention of spreading the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. - Wikipedia
The issue therein is with modern methodology as developed over time in America. The differences between Education and indoctrination (or brain washing as in cults) can be enigmatic. Education relies heavily upon actual facts, reality, while indoctrination can easily rely mostly on the ends justifying the means, regardless what is being proposed.
It in part depends upon the child evangelism movement, a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century. It focused on the 4/14 Window which centered on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. (Wikipedia, referred here to Luis Bush). The Christian music industry has also played a significant role in modern evangelism, as well as of late, their growing film industry. There are sure to be others to follow as one succeeds and supplies money to other newer endeavors.
This necessarily needs us to refer to "Deprogramming which refers to measures that claim to assist a person who holds a controversial belief system in changing those beliefs and abandon their allegiance to the religious, political, economic, or social group associated with the belief system. - Wikipedia
We do not have deprogramming in politics. But we need to.
Though there is no realistic way to treat the disaffected individuals and groups. To rectify it requires education (also to inoculate them in the first place). Education is something the conservative right and Republicans in general have continually defunded and attempted to support instead, "charter schools" and "home schooling" to allow their mindworm beliefs to be perpetuated untampered with by reality or more rational and reasonable outside forces (such as the Federal government). This has led to our current somewhat to completely bizarre politics and beliefs, as well as the rise of entities such as Fox News, today as we know them.
"You are the salt of the earth...the light of the world...Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." Matthew 5:13-14; 28:19
In "A Social Psychology of Evangelism" by David G. Meyers and Charles W. Green, they begin by referring to the Principle Three: attitudes follow behavior. Also, "attitude inoculation" which basically is a method to inoculate their beliefs against all rational onslaughts.
That is, to be able to withstand all reality and rationality against one's own personal or group's or tribe's beliefs, regardless how ridiculous they are or how contrary they are to reality in general or even specifically.
Along with those are the others:
Principle Four: credible and attractive communicators have more impact.
Principle Four: credible and attractive communicators have more impact.
Principle Five: personal persuasion is more effective than media persuasion.
Principle Six: ineffective appeals can be worse than none at all.
Principle Seven: vivid, concerte examples are more potent than abstract information.
Principle Eight: messages that relate to what people know or have experienced are better remembered.
Principle Nine: spaced repetition aids memory.
Principle Ten: active processing boosts persuasion.
Principle Eleven: group discussion generally strengthens shared convictions.
"For evangelism this faith-follows-action principle implies the desirability of creating opportunities for people to enact their uncertain beliefs, thereby confirming and strengthening their Christian identity. Bill Graham recognizes this when asking people to enact a public commitment of their newfunds faith: "Now I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat." From the paper by Meyers and Green.
William Strunk and E.B. White asserted in their classic: The Elements of Style, "If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete."
The problem in attempting to counter this behavior by the disingenuous, is in maintaining an adherence to the truth. To be honest and forthright, one cannot know everything, or enough far too much of the time. The evangelical politico (at times even the religious version) will be specific, definite, concrete and self-assured, regardless.
Because it is imperative to win. To win at all costs. Reality and logic dictate that much of the time (certainly for most of us) we simply cannot know everything and in being honest about that, we can lose the battle against an evangelical type.
Which is something I learned decades ago. Beware anyone or group who seems to have all the answers. No one, has all the answers and if they seem to, something is wrong. Anyone may have all the answers for a short time, until knowledge runs out. But if it continues beyond a reasonable point, beware. In certain situations, even consider running for the door. Escape!
Because it is imperative to win. To win at all costs. Reality and logic dictate that much of the time (certainly for most of us) we simply cannot know everything and in being honest about that, we can lose the battle against an evangelical type.
Which is something I learned decades ago. Beware anyone or group who seems to have all the answers. No one, has all the answers and if they seem to, something is wrong. Anyone may have all the answers for a short time, until knowledge runs out. But if it continues beyond a reasonable point, beware. In certain situations, even consider running for the door. Escape!
It is the same old situation. Good is weaker in some ways because of rules and laws and honesty. Evil can do anything to win. We have seen this in America against the closed societies of the old Soviets and Communist Chinese.
While America is open, published things openly, all the spying America's enemies had to do much of the time was to buy a magazine, a journal, or frequent a library. Or simply ask someone. While in their societies, merely asking the wrong question can get you in trouble.
We see this kind of behavior with the Trump administration in being specific about things we know are fully unknown, while the counter is difficult except to admit ignorance and to point out that the President is obfuscating, conflating, and lying.
To return to the indoctrination of children. That is how the mindworm comes to be in Christianity, religion in general and American Evangelism. Get them young. Get and keep them ignorant. Steel them against reality. Follow, at all costs. Believe that "faith" is the end all be all to life. Never leave the "faith" for reality, or "earthly" beliefs (or pleasures, thus denying believers of much of what is wonderful about the human experience, not even in considering the extreme elements). Some organizations (not religion) like Scientology are very much like that. And scary, it is for they have ruined lives. Just as we have seen from the Republican party and their abuses of ethnic minorities and women's rights.
This, is the reason religion is a mindworm. It is insidious to be able to remove it once it has wrapped its slimy body around a pristine mind.
Through a history of religion, of following, of evangelical actions by conservative politicos, in using what the Soviets learned decades ago works very well on human beings to take control through these mindworm techniques, we see it also today in American Right Wing politics, in the conservative right of the Republican party, and in the alt-right movement of American fascism. But they don't see themselves in that light because after all, they are the "good people".
Something they cannot see clearly as wrong because it all agrees with their more base inner desires. That of self-aggrandizement and selfish reward hidden within the guise of claims of helping others.
It is also why someone like Donald Trump is so appealing to them. He makes it all look good and best for them and if for them in their delusional state, then of course it's for everyone.
Oddly enough, Pres. Trump himself is a kind of mindworm. As seen in this depiction of the original science fiction story from 1950 by author, Cyril M. Kornbluth (from Wikipedia):
"The Mindworm" is a short story by science fiction author Cyril M. Kornbluth, first published in 1950. It combines the themes of mutant power, telepathy and ancient superstition.
The protagonist, the Mindworm of the title, is an orphan, the result of a liaison between a U.S. Navy lieutenant and a nurse aboard ship during viewing of early atomic tests. He is a mutant, as a result of the atomic fallout after the testing, and he can "hear" the thoughts of others around him.
Cast out into the world as a young adult, he is about to be gang raped by hoboes when he discovers an ability to feed off strong emotions, killing one of his assailants in the process. He uses this to eliminate the rest of his attackers. He moves from town to town, eavesdropping on the thoughts of people around him, and using his abilities to induce the intense emotion he craves, and to gain material wealth. The thoughts he hears often represent a brutal side of America, as he hears the large and small cruelties people inflict on each other, ranging from family quarrels to beatings carried out in dark alleyways.
He can hear thoughts in other languages, though he cannot understand them. As he moves into communities where new Eastern European immigrants have congregated, he starts hearing the term "wompyear". Just as he realizes that this is their pronunciation of the word "vampire" and they have recognized him, his neighbors burst in and kill him.
In conclusion, it is my contention in all this to be specific, definite and concrete...do not rely on religious faith. Rely on reality. Rely on education. Rely on science and truth. Even and most especially if and when it disagrees with your beliefs. That doesn't mean blindly follow science. If it disagrees with you, review the facts. The actual facts. Research until you can clearly see what the truth is, and then, stick to it. Until a better version comes along. Don't stick to outdated and misguided beliefs. That sit he road to madness and harming humanity.
Initially it is harder to do. I'll admit that. It takes practice and more mind\brain power. Whic is why so many avoid it. It's easier not to think things out, especially if you are uneducated, or do not have a clear and logical mind. But in the end we will all be much better off for it.
And just as important if not more so, we will all be able to agree on what reality actually is.
And just as important if not more so, we will all be able to agree on what reality actually is.
There is an odd twisted parallel between certainly the christian religious and American conservative politics. Where God has been replaced by oligarchs and profit. Where following God is following financial and political (because of financial) leaders. Where what is good for us (really for them) is good at all costs. Where we believe through faith what our beliefs are regardless of all reality countering those beliefs.
It is easy for those of us on the outside of American conservative politics to see. One merely needs to point it out. It is after all, quite...self-evident. For those of us who still know what that means, anyway.
However it is nearly impossible for those inculcated into it, for it ever to change for them and therefore, for us all, because of them.
And that, is most definitely a problem.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Believe in Us Not Profit at all Costs
This, is good news. Automation, means humanity has more leisure time to pursue things like the arts, bettering oneself, bettering families, bettering humanity, lending aid in volunteering, and so on. We should be headed to four day work weeks, six hour days, not ever longer hours and weeks.
We are being lied to and have been for so long we can no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel. And then we are told we are the fault. We have been actively and consciously maneuvered into this position. A position where we see no way out. Even our good leaders can no longer see this anymore. Many of them too have bought into the foolishness we've been led into.
I read about where we should be heading and where we should be now, as a child in science fiction books. Books written by the masters of futurism, science and speculative fiction. We were warned. Warned by books like 1984 and Brave New World and others.
The issue isn't that of immigrants or robots or automation are taking our jobs.
The issue is our leaders did not seem to know this was happening, what was coming down upon us, and where our future was heading. Because too many of them simply do not study the past. They can therefore, do little about considering out future.
They only seem to care about the present, about capitalism, about profit, about power for themselves, their tribe, their oligarchs and corporate masters.
Why is everything so broken?
As I've said now for decades, our priorities are simply wrong. Pure and simple.
If we had been working toward these aforementioned things rather than being so focused with tunnel vision on profit for stockholders, corporations and the wealthy, none of this would be an issue now.
We would and should be hands down the moral and humane leaders of the world. Yet, we are not.
The profit takers, the Trumps of the country and of the planet have taken over and convinced us there is no recourse... other than theirs. Too many of us are too ignorant or too stupid to believe otherwise.
That puts Putin firmly in the lead as the world's greatest profit taker, fiscal and moral rapist of his own country. While Trump mimics his beloved efforts here and just as the rest of the world's leaders seem to be following suit.
That's why there are so many Russian connections with the Trump family and administration.
#realDonaldTrump, #Putin and his #POTUS, out country's #GOP, the broken zombified #Republican party of big business, they are all focused on wealth and for only the few.
We are all in the movie #GetOut and we... are the new guy.
We need to win. To expose. To decimate bad priorities. To take over. To take control of our lives. To remove those who have so damaged us. To change our priorities to those most suitable to not just us, not just our tribe, our only nation, only our profit structure.
But for OUR entire human race. We do that, or we are doomed. But that is not just a depressive and pathetic end to our existence.
Hope. Effort. A refusal to be beaten down any further. It is in our hands. And we are seeing it happen. So many women are starting to run for office. People who were very recently of the mind that there was no hope. We had no say. Are now saying, yes we do have hope! Yes, we can have a say.
We are seeing a paradigm shift unlike we have seen in decades.
And it's just in time.
We are being lied to and have been for so long we can no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel. And then we are told we are the fault. We have been actively and consciously maneuvered into this position. A position where we see no way out. Even our good leaders can no longer see this anymore. Many of them too have bought into the foolishness we've been led into.
I read about where we should be heading and where we should be now, as a child in science fiction books. Books written by the masters of futurism, science and speculative fiction. We were warned. Warned by books like 1984 and Brave New World and others.
The issue isn't that of immigrants or robots or automation are taking our jobs.
The issue is our leaders did not seem to know this was happening, what was coming down upon us, and where our future was heading. Because too many of them simply do not study the past. They can therefore, do little about considering out future.
They only seem to care about the present, about capitalism, about profit, about power for themselves, their tribe, their oligarchs and corporate masters.
Why is everything so broken?
As I've said now for decades, our priorities are simply wrong. Pure and simple.
If we had been working toward these aforementioned things rather than being so focused with tunnel vision on profit for stockholders, corporations and the wealthy, none of this would be an issue now.
We would and should be hands down the moral and humane leaders of the world. Yet, we are not.
The profit takers, the Trumps of the country and of the planet have taken over and convinced us there is no recourse... other than theirs. Too many of us are too ignorant or too stupid to believe otherwise.
That puts Putin firmly in the lead as the world's greatest profit taker, fiscal and moral rapist of his own country. While Trump mimics his beloved efforts here and just as the rest of the world's leaders seem to be following suit.
That's why there are so many Russian connections with the Trump family and administration.
#realDonaldTrump, #Putin and his #POTUS, out country's #GOP, the broken zombified #Republican party of big business, they are all focused on wealth and for only the few.
We are all in the movie #GetOut and we... are the new guy.
We need to win. To expose. To decimate bad priorities. To take over. To take control of our lives. To remove those who have so damaged us. To change our priorities to those most suitable to not just us, not just our tribe, our only nation, only our profit structure.
But for OUR entire human race. We do that, or we are doomed. But that is not just a depressive and pathetic end to our existence.
Hope. Effort. A refusal to be beaten down any further. It is in our hands. And we are seeing it happen. So many women are starting to run for office. People who were very recently of the mind that there was no hope. We had no say. Are now saying, yes we do have hope! Yes, we can have a say.
We are seeing a paradigm shift unlike we have seen in decades.
And it's just in time.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Dr. Martin Luther King State of the Union
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." - Dr. Martin Luther King
Something that sadly, we cannot do with our current president. A man with whom character seems to be a problematic thing. A thing to be cast aside if not despised. A thing that money can buy, and morality not abide.
How have we gone so far down the ladder of humanity and morality in a single election?
i have seen the enemy and the enemy is us, or more rightly and far too often of late, them: #POTUS #realDonaldTrump #GOP #Republican #Conservative #MLKJrDay #MartinLutherKing #MLKDay
Dr. King would not be surprised, but like myself and too many, saddened by our backwardness in the face of all our potential and progress.
Have a decent and rewarding Dr. Martin Luther King Day
 |
| Dr. King |
How have we gone so far down the ladder of humanity and morality in a single election?
i have seen the enemy and the enemy is us, or more rightly and far too often of late, them: #POTUS #realDonaldTrump #GOP #Republican #Conservative #MLKJrDay #MartinLutherKing #MLKDay
Dr. King would not be surprised, but like myself and too many, saddened by our backwardness in the face of all our potential and progress.
Have a decent and rewarding Dr. Martin Luther King Day
Monday, January 8, 2018
What Exactly Is Full And What Does This Teach Us?
Take a container.
Place three rocks in it large enough only to fill it.
Is it full now? Yes.
Yet fill it now with sand.
Is it full now? Yes.
Yet, fill it now with water.
Is it full now? Yes.
What have we learned?
Take a container.
It is already full. Most likely of air.
Fill it with three large rocks.
It is full now, of air, but also now of rocks.
Fill it with sand.
It is now full of air and rocks and tiny rocks.
Fill it with water.
It is now full of water and rocks.
What have we learned?
We have learned if we filled it with small rocks first, the big rocks wouldn't fit.
If we filled it first with water, adding the others would displace most of the water.
We learned that if we fill it in the wrong order, we cannot fill in all the things we can if we were to fill it in the most correct or most functional order.
We learned if we do the most obvious thing first, we very likely will fail.
We learned if we take the time to think, we can save time and potentially lost resources.
We learned we need to think in more ways ot modes than one.
We learned that sometimes we need to "think outside the box."
We learned that we cannot simply think in our normal, automated, linear fashion all the time.
We learned we need to be prepared for when we need to go off auto-drive and into multiple modes of consideration.
We learned we are not taught that well in our current educational system.
We learned we need to be prepared when we least expect it.
We learned.
Educating the world is what will save it.
We need to respect what should be respected and replace what should not be, with what should be.
We need to respect education.
We need to respect the educated.
We need to respect those who respect intelligence, education and those who support them.
We need to be honest.
We also need to have compassion, to know love for others.
Especially those we do not understand easily.
We need to respect Truth. Not lies because they can benefit us.
We need to respect Facts. Not lies because they can benefit us.
We need to respect the honest. Not the dishonest merely because they can benefit us.
It is harder for one to be honest all the time.
It requires more effort.
It builds more intelligence.
It builds more character, good character.
We need to respect teachers.
We need to respect those who try to achieve higher learning both for themselves and for others and not denigrate any them for trying or because we have not.
We need to learn.
We need to respect.
We need always to try to be more than we are and do it in the right ways.
Place three rocks in it large enough only to fill it.
Is it full now? Yes.
Yet fill it now with sand.
Is it full now? Yes.
Yet, fill it now with water.
Is it full now? Yes.
What have we learned?
 |
| Jar of Life example |
It is already full. Most likely of air.
Fill it with three large rocks.
It is full now, of air, but also now of rocks.
Fill it with sand.
It is now full of air and rocks and tiny rocks.
Fill it with water.
It is now full of water and rocks.
What have we learned?
We have learned if we filled it with small rocks first, the big rocks wouldn't fit.
If we filled it first with water, adding the others would displace most of the water.
We learned that if we fill it in the wrong order, we cannot fill in all the things we can if we were to fill it in the most correct or most functional order.
We learned if we do the most obvious thing first, we very likely will fail.
We learned if we take the time to think, we can save time and potentially lost resources.
We learned we need to think in more ways ot modes than one.
We learned that sometimes we need to "think outside the box."
We learned that we cannot simply think in our normal, automated, linear fashion all the time.
We learned we need to be prepared for when we need to go off auto-drive and into multiple modes of consideration.
We learned we are not taught that well in our current educational system.
We learned we need to be prepared when we least expect it.
We learned.
Educating the world is what will save it.
We need to respect what should be respected and replace what should not be, with what should be.
We need to respect education.
We need to respect the educated.
We need to respect those who respect intelligence, education and those who support them.
We need to be honest.
We also need to have compassion, to know love for others.
Especially those we do not understand easily.
We need to respect Truth. Not lies because they can benefit us.
We need to respect Facts. Not lies because they can benefit us.
We need to respect the honest. Not the dishonest merely because they can benefit us.
It is harder for one to be honest all the time.
It requires more effort.
It builds more intelligence.
It builds more character, good character.
We need to respect teachers.
We need to respect those who try to achieve higher learning both for themselves and for others and not denigrate any them for trying or because we have not.
We need to learn.
We need to respect.
We need always to try to be more than we are and do it in the right ways.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Importance of Importance
I used to think i couldn't learn. My life K-12 was pretty miserable. Except when I found (or they found me) a teacher who saw my potential with just a little help. It wasn't until my first quarter in college, after spending years in the Air Force, when I took a class called, Study Skills. This article isn't just about education or college. I'm simply using that as an example.
This is really all about, life. About seeing and being able to see what is really there and needs to be.
I realized, that yes, one actually can learn. There is a method. One that works. I have no idea why that wasn't taught in grade school. I knew others could learn more easily, I just couldn't figure out how they did it. Until it was explained to me.
During my university years toward my eventual B.A. in psychology, my main professor and adviser once said that the reason people can't remember things is they didn't think they were important enough to bother to remember.
Or, they didn't make them important enough to remember. Many, maybe even most (though I'd dispute that from what I've seen of late), seem to have an innate ability to remember things..I for one, do not have that ability come easy to me.
Another issue is taking things from short term memory and putting them into long term memory.
Either way it became clear to me at some point that it's all about importance.
Consider. You are in a serious traumatizing situation. It's one of those times when for the rest of your life you will never be able to forget what happened. Why? Because it was important at the time. One way or another, it was made to be important. Very important. More important than anything.
And so it was when I was in college. I realized I had to make things important to me. I had to make my mission getting that college degree. Secondary were good grades. When there was a choice between learning and good grades, I would go with learning. My entire experience of college therefore was two fold.
Get a degree and learn (but after all, do try to keep up your grades, so maybe 2.5 fold?).
Through life, once one is degreed, there is an alternating issue of which is more important. The degree, or the grades that brought it about? I never once had anyone check if I had good grades toward my degree, and seldom did they even check if I did have a degree. Some did, however.
For the most part I'd say learning is far more important than either grades or degree. However, one needs the degree so much of the time in order to be better situated in order to need and use that learning.
Thus it may be more important to get the degree in a sense, than to learn. followed up by good grades. Of course you need grades good enough (C or above) in one's major area of study in order to move past that class (and not have to retake it). But aside from all that, learning really is or should be, paramount. I saw too may younger students who thought partying was the most important aspect of college. And perhaps sadly, some of them may now be running companies, or even more sadly, parts of our government.
Learning really is more important in the end than anything else. More important than party time, rest, relaxation, personal relationships, or even (oh no!), money.
Beyond all that and perhaps intrinsic with it it, it is really all about what is important enough to remember, and what isn't.
IF you make the entire situation important, that is, if you see college in this case, as your life depending upon learning and graduating (at times more specifically on certain classes or papers), if it is most important to you and you see it as your life depending upon it, you will learn. And you will remember.
Of course, you also need to follow certain obvious and reasonable practices. Did you know if you do not review what has happened, or what you have learned, you can forget 80%? I had a method (one I was taught) to take notes during class, after class as soon as possible, review those notes, any handouts, or papers or content from that class. Review it that night briefly. Then the end of the week and finally at the end of the month.
Thus you force it all into longer term memory. You make it important. but you also make it important in class as you are learning new material, and see it, experience it, as you life depending on it. Not to stress yourself out about it, but to simply focus, being mindful, being present, and knowing at all times in the back of your mind, the rest of your life depends on learning and remembering it.
And that brings us to the issue at hand.
We have a culture now where little is deemed as truly important. We are distracted. We try to multitask which has inherent issues regarding learning and even health. Our attentions spans are shorter than ever. We are perhaps too oriented toward fun and what is easier in desiring shortcuts. And not enough oriented toward what is fun and pleasurable, in being able to not overwork too much and in not taking proper vacations.
Our priorities are skewed from what a human needs out of life. They are skewed by those who wish us to give as much as is possible and then some, for the least amount of payback by them to you for your efforts, and a loyalty to you that is lacking, while their expectations of loyalty from you is required.
Short cuts aren't that great unless they are also the best for the situation. Shortcuts for the sake of them are destructive. Don't be lazy, but do be economical. Work smarter not harder so you have the ability to make the important important and the non important, forgettable. Just choose carefully what is and really should be forgettable.
I agree. Economy of motion, action and resources is important. But that has come to be misconstrued as simply the best way to always go. And far too often it's just, not.
The caveats, are important.
Make what is and should be (and that's) important...important. Be mindful.
This is really all about, life. About seeing and being able to see what is really there and needs to be.
 |
| Sunrise from my home in Bremerton |
Or, they didn't make them important enough to remember. Many, maybe even most (though I'd dispute that from what I've seen of late), seem to have an innate ability to remember things..I for one, do not have that ability come easy to me.
Another issue is taking things from short term memory and putting them into long term memory.
Either way it became clear to me at some point that it's all about importance.
Consider. You are in a serious traumatizing situation. It's one of those times when for the rest of your life you will never be able to forget what happened. Why? Because it was important at the time. One way or another, it was made to be important. Very important. More important than anything.
And so it was when I was in college. I realized I had to make things important to me. I had to make my mission getting that college degree. Secondary were good grades. When there was a choice between learning and good grades, I would go with learning. My entire experience of college therefore was two fold.
Get a degree and learn (but after all, do try to keep up your grades, so maybe 2.5 fold?).
Through life, once one is degreed, there is an alternating issue of which is more important. The degree, or the grades that brought it about? I never once had anyone check if I had good grades toward my degree, and seldom did they even check if I did have a degree. Some did, however.
For the most part I'd say learning is far more important than either grades or degree. However, one needs the degree so much of the time in order to be better situated in order to need and use that learning.
Thus it may be more important to get the degree in a sense, than to learn. followed up by good grades. Of course you need grades good enough (C or above) in one's major area of study in order to move past that class (and not have to retake it). But aside from all that, learning really is or should be, paramount. I saw too may younger students who thought partying was the most important aspect of college. And perhaps sadly, some of them may now be running companies, or even more sadly, parts of our government.
Learning really is more important in the end than anything else. More important than party time, rest, relaxation, personal relationships, or even (oh no!), money.
Beyond all that and perhaps intrinsic with it it, it is really all about what is important enough to remember, and what isn't.
IF you make the entire situation important, that is, if you see college in this case, as your life depending upon learning and graduating (at times more specifically on certain classes or papers), if it is most important to you and you see it as your life depending upon it, you will learn. And you will remember.
Of course, you also need to follow certain obvious and reasonable practices. Did you know if you do not review what has happened, or what you have learned, you can forget 80%? I had a method (one I was taught) to take notes during class, after class as soon as possible, review those notes, any handouts, or papers or content from that class. Review it that night briefly. Then the end of the week and finally at the end of the month.
Thus you force it all into longer term memory. You make it important. but you also make it important in class as you are learning new material, and see it, experience it, as you life depending on it. Not to stress yourself out about it, but to simply focus, being mindful, being present, and knowing at all times in the back of your mind, the rest of your life depends on learning and remembering it.
And that brings us to the issue at hand.
We have a culture now where little is deemed as truly important. We are distracted. We try to multitask which has inherent issues regarding learning and even health. Our attentions spans are shorter than ever. We are perhaps too oriented toward fun and what is easier in desiring shortcuts. And not enough oriented toward what is fun and pleasurable, in being able to not overwork too much and in not taking proper vacations.
Our priorities are skewed from what a human needs out of life. They are skewed by those who wish us to give as much as is possible and then some, for the least amount of payback by them to you for your efforts, and a loyalty to you that is lacking, while their expectations of loyalty from you is required.
Short cuts aren't that great unless they are also the best for the situation. Shortcuts for the sake of them are destructive. Don't be lazy, but do be economical. Work smarter not harder so you have the ability to make the important important and the non important, forgettable. Just choose carefully what is and really should be forgettable.
I agree. Economy of motion, action and resources is important. But that has come to be misconstrued as simply the best way to always go. And far too often it's just, not.
The caveats, are important.
Make what is and should be (and that's) important...important. Be mindful.
Monday, January 1, 2018
Bah Humbug, Holidays? Really? Still... Happy New Year 2018!
Welcome to 2018! Just be better than 2017!
2017 treated far too many of us with utter contempt and disrespect. I look forward to 2018 being much more congenial and powerfully friendly. And if it's not...then I look forward to wrestling it to the ground, cruising its face into the mud and beating the holy tar out of it because This year...I'm not putting up with that crap any longer.
Really so glad you could all make it!
2017 treated far too many of us with utter contempt and disrespect. I look forward to 2018 being much more congenial and powerfully friendly. And if it's not...then I look forward to wrestling it to the ground, cruising its face into the mud and beating the holy tar out of it because This year...I'm not putting up with that crap any longer.
And so say us all!
Let's celebrate. Or would you rather skip all the trouble? I know, I know. Many of us have felt through this year that it would be better not to bridge that gap and just relax and fall to end it all. But a new year brings hope. And more strenuous efforts to deny the stupid, remove the ill mannered, and better everyone's lives, not just the few.
I mean, what are holidays for anyway? Who cares about them? Why should we care about them? Especially if we find in them, celebrating things we are not that partial to, or in support of, or see only the negative in them. Like an "Uncle Mike's" annoying habits, or a "grandpa's" drunken grouchiness. Aren't they just another waste of human resources? Emotional exhibitions with too frequently no need or basis in logic? Or reality.
Obviously holidays are for the celebrations for which they were originally intended.
Though some do supersede those original reasons. Such as Christmas. A birthday. New Year's, Halloween, etc. They are a reason for celebrating their original intent, to be sure, but also for sharing communal experiences, renewing old alliances, expanding one's relationships.
They are for exceeding one's normal experience of any normal day. A reason to do the exceptional, a thing to plan for and enjoy the planning of, not to ruin it by stressing over that planning, not for exceeding oneself to the point of misery or destitution. But to be the abnormal, in a positive sense. To pamper oneself, or others. To use that which we save up for over time (to use, not abuse), to remember our reasons for existing in the first place. Whatever that may be. To show others that you care when normally it isn't considered, executed, or appreciated.
We have to face the fact that holidays are not only for what they are claimed to be, or originally were all about.
They offer one an opportunity to shine, in various ways. To know one is appreciated, to show that the appreciation of others. To build memories that will last a lifetime. To, in even the smallest of ways, give others acknowledgement of your appreciation of their existence, of their help, or their care for you. And to assure that this relationship continues or even expands in ways that are a benefit to yourself, to themselves and to your associated communities, both local and extended.
They are there to enjoy ourselves in our own experience of them and through the experience of others sharing in those experiences with us. It can be a bonding experience far outweighing the effort of experiencing them, as well as in the shared memories of those events many years into the future. Or even beyond life itself if recorded and later shared by friends, family or even unknown descendants or merely other citizens.
So don't blow off these holidays.
Do not fear them.
Embrace them. They will embrace you back.
In the end, we may all very well benefit by them.
All the best to you and yours in this new year of 2018!
Let's celebrate. Or would you rather skip all the trouble? I know, I know. Many of us have felt through this year that it would be better not to bridge that gap and just relax and fall to end it all. But a new year brings hope. And more strenuous efforts to deny the stupid, remove the ill mannered, and better everyone's lives, not just the few.
I mean, what are holidays for anyway? Who cares about them? Why should we care about them? Especially if we find in them, celebrating things we are not that partial to, or in support of, or see only the negative in them. Like an "Uncle Mike's" annoying habits, or a "grandpa's" drunken grouchiness. Aren't they just another waste of human resources? Emotional exhibitions with too frequently no need or basis in logic? Or reality.
Obviously holidays are for the celebrations for which they were originally intended.
Though some do supersede those original reasons. Such as Christmas. A birthday. New Year's, Halloween, etc. They are a reason for celebrating their original intent, to be sure, but also for sharing communal experiences, renewing old alliances, expanding one's relationships.
They are for exceeding one's normal experience of any normal day. A reason to do the exceptional, a thing to plan for and enjoy the planning of, not to ruin it by stressing over that planning, not for exceeding oneself to the point of misery or destitution. But to be the abnormal, in a positive sense. To pamper oneself, or others. To use that which we save up for over time (to use, not abuse), to remember our reasons for existing in the first place. Whatever that may be. To show others that you care when normally it isn't considered, executed, or appreciated.
We have to face the fact that holidays are not only for what they are claimed to be, or originally were all about.
They offer one an opportunity to shine, in various ways. To know one is appreciated, to show that the appreciation of others. To build memories that will last a lifetime. To, in even the smallest of ways, give others acknowledgement of your appreciation of their existence, of their help, or their care for you. And to assure that this relationship continues or even expands in ways that are a benefit to yourself, to themselves and to your associated communities, both local and extended.
They are there to enjoy ourselves in our own experience of them and through the experience of others sharing in those experiences with us. It can be a bonding experience far outweighing the effort of experiencing them, as well as in the shared memories of those events many years into the future. Or even beyond life itself if recorded and later shared by friends, family or even unknown descendants or merely other citizens.
So don't blow off these holidays.
Do not fear them.
Embrace them. They will embrace you back.
In the end, we may all very well benefit by them.
All the best to you and yours in this new year of 2018!
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