Om

I believe the trend that has been becoming apparent, of a whole population acting stupider, may be simply an effect of the way cultural change occurs. It seems possible to me that it occurs like a pendulum. So, things go a little more towards enlightenment, certain issues become more socially acceptable, important. Topics such as racism, sexism, and others have been through the wringer in public debate and awareness, and have become fairly widely accepted as taboos. Things such as bullying, rape, murder, are all completely condemned in mainstream public media.

More importantly, the main qualities needed for someone to be an alpha male or female in our culture have shifted dramatically. Instead of physical prowess, many of the new qualities involve the realm of the mind, such as crunching numbers or analyzing companies. Many of the most powerful people in the world - Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, et al, are examples of the new alpha. Qualities of roughness and toughness no longer raise one to the top level - and further, the power commanded by any one of these people has never in the history of the planet been equalled. They could buy a small country, and a small army, if they wished. It is true, previous persons have commanded vast areas of land, for instance Caesar, or Alexander the Great, not to speak of Russian, Chinese, or Mongolian leaders, or other nationalities. But they had far less stability, I would wager. Alexander died extremely young; Caesar died, as is well known, by betrayal. Warren Buffett is far less likely to die by betrayal if for no other reason than his age; although there are a plethora of other reasons as well.

So, there has been a shift, the meek, geeks have inherited the earth; and now there is a pendulum swing back the other way. . there is a counter-balancing increase of intolerance, ignorance and then what these always lead to, bloodshed. The more we vilify anyone, the more we incite fear, all we do is pave the way for atrocities. And by division, all we do is weaken ourselves. And we in this country have done so many things to increase division for decades.

We've also done so much to increase interconnectedness, too - may we continue to do so - and this is the nature of the world; as Nietzsche said, so many forces, chaotic, patterned, yet always equalling the same total sum. The 60's cultural shift of consciousness and increased interconnectedness, and the current event of technological interconnectivity.

And people do many good things on a smaller level; and good things - if not transcendental good - are still good things. Any act of kindness carries enormous potential for further acts of kindness. A single act can spread out into a hundred thousand, only within a few years.

But I feel that people do not have real knowledge. . . If they knew what they were doing, they could always achieve more good. One prime thing they don't know is who to trust... who to believe. In other words, we need true leaders; ones that can gives us real insight, real guidance, and true knowledge about how to help, how to help heal and help live in a fashion that can benefit the world. .

People that have experienced the fullness of their life, of being, of love, of existence. People like Goethe, Shelley, Emerson. . .

I believe it used to be more apparent who was one we should follow as a leader - for instance Emerson. He was a friend of presidents, and a poet, and a philosopher.. a good example of who might be a philosopher-king. We are now so far from that in so many ways..

Just because Emerson is dead now, does not mean we can't still use him as a good example of a leader, a writer, a thinker, a poet, a friend; simply, a true man. As Thay says, "If life is life, if a tree is a real tree, if a person is a real person, they benefit their family, the whole world. . ."

It is so true. . .




[ in the below paragraph I say that it isn't safe to assume others' opinions for your own. I still believe this is true, and I think the reasons are fairly obvious if you consider; though it may sound almost shocking. . .]

[ - about safety . .it is an interetsing topic, one that's crucial to life. . . safety is a necessity for, above all, being one's master, being in control of one's life, and being safe therefore is one of the most important things in life. . . It is also important because one's life is sacred - one's person, one's heart, one's mind are all sacred - as well as those around one. So, if there is to be harmony in life, it's necessary that I am safe, and those around me are safe. I have found to accomplish this task, it is best to find a safe place. . . I live in the country, it's peaceful and serene mostly out here.. I am fortunate there is so much space in this country, it makes it much safer in many ways. . . If I lived in many countries I would have become a monk... ]


Even if we are together, we are still dependent upon the quality of each of our consciousnesses... we can no longer assume the current mode of consciousness is a safe one. You cannot take your points of view from others, you can't assume your personality based on those you've come into contact with blindly - it is not safe to assume their points of view any more. You must create your own points of view, because all you view and know of life is from you. It is from others, too, but it is from you most of alll, and primarily. If you don't make a choice to act independently of others, creatively and actively and on your own; create your own path, then you will inevitably, invariably, eventually become controlled by external forces and personalities. You will be a puppet at their hands, a shadow of them, and ultimately you will become less and less in touch with reality. . .

There are only two ways you can go in life - closer to reality, or further away from it. I stipulate that we are always going in one of the two directions. To experience true, full reality, you have to go underneath so many barriers, and illusions. You can ask yourself, have you experienced true, full, reality, completely and entirely? Like, the heart of your heart, your source? 99% of people have not; I can state with a fair certainnty. And yet 100% of people can, in this moment, immediately and right here and now, experience realization of their innermost selves, their source, and the universe, all at once. It's entirely possible. When you see that all of the bondage, all of the bindinges are illusion, you also feel, realize, experience the realization that it is all sweeping away; all of them are indeed becoming nothing, vanishing; it is happening all the time, it is all what we experience. But we will always return from this vision, this beautiful oneness, back into the world of the manifested, so long as we are in this life. But no one who experiences the truth will ever forget, or ever being in danger of not finding the way home.

In fact, is apparent that no one in the universe can ever be separated from the source; from their heart of hearts.


So anyway, the backlash of stupidity in society and culture is the sort of counter-effect of such social changes as, the game has largely changed. . . A lot of the previous qualities for acquiring the alpha status in a group still apply in many situations, I believe it is rather impossible to live life to its fullest in a situation where this is the case... if the leader of a group is there because of intimidation, and/or physical prowess, how is that group going to perform, when the things that actually matter come from intelligence? Strategic decisions, and the what not.

We're at a place where the previous qualities are not gone entirely, but they're not here in their previous form either. Physical characteristics still come largely, or hugely into it; size in males being the most apparent one. Bosses in companies are most often the tallest people, to this day; and short people many times have a huge disadvantage. Why is this? Perhaps because the simple act of looking up to someone, or looking down to someone, (notice, the more common usage would be looking down on someone) have a subtle, yet significant effect. .

In any case, it's all so dull, and it almost is not worth mentioning. What is the point of examining all of it?

To learn how to take power?


My brother wanted me to read a book called the "Art of Seduction." He began to tell me about how "seduction is more than just sexual, etc." and told me that the author had studied Plato, um, I don't remember the others. . . In response I would say firstly, that it is best to simply read Plato, and the other brilliants, and learn from them yourselves.. life is so much richer and fuller that way; and secondly - this took a little while to formulate fully - what is the goal of seduction? I mean, what is the ultimate goal of seduction or persuasion . . . to me, the answer I came to is mind control, heart control - and this, is so ubattractive as to end the debate for me there. . . And yet, the next question naturally arises, couldn't persuasion be used for good? Wouldn't the art of persuasion be useful in many situations? Such as talking someone down from a ledge?

Is moral squeamishness about power the reason good people allow bad people to take power?


I think, for the honest philosopher, the question of power simply becomes uninteresting. It's just a stupid, stupid game; and the only reason to play is to re-write the rules, to make it a little more fun, a little less stupid, a little more fair, a little less brutal; the only reason to play the game is to win, and abolish it as much as one is able; this is the conclusion I come to. . . honestly, it's the only one I have come to for years.

It's an idiotic, terrible game, and knowing that the only reason to play it is to abolish it helps me to wish to get into it. . . Because at my heart; I am a through and through gamer and I love games, so very much; but I love the interesting kind better, the fair, skillful, fascinating and beautiful games better. . . I love the games where people don't die, where the stakes are not the life and soul of many of the players.

But hey, play it I will, because what I've found is the best thing to do;

And play it you should, and play it together we should, and win completely; but you should never forget that once you're done, get rid of the game. We should have done so a long time previously; but that means nothing, all that matters is we do so now.





If the people in power had pure hearts, this world would be changed, transformed in an instant. The only reason to hang on to a weapon is fear, when eventually you realize you have nothing to fear, you would be able to let go of the weapon. So it would seem that spreading this message of no-fear, is the best way to cure the world. . . It's not that life is bad, it's not that protecting life is bad - it's that it is unnecessary to protect life, because you cannot, literally, ever be separated from life. When you die, you awake; you return to the source. This is true. . . So, if we as a country can learn that life, true life, knows nothing of fear; because it only knows the boundless space, the illimitable bliss and existence that fashions it out of eternity; it would not fear death, and it would be able to let go of its weapons.




There's a strange phenomenon, we've grown accustomed to refusing the truth, and accepting lies. Much like a stubborn mule, we cannot be convinced of the truth - We've decided that we must be courted, we must be sought out, we must be found! - and convinced, forced into believing.

Why? Because we have opened ourselves up to manipulation, we have capitulated into letting it penetrate every aspect of our daily lives. We've agreed to let it pour into our minds and hearts; and therefore, that's what we've begun to view the world as.

But it's NOT like that! The truth is not something that should come to your door, and convince you, shove itself down your throat, until you believe!

It is something YOU must seek, it something hidden, and precious, and rare, and so infinitely beautiful and valuable. And would then say "He didn't force me, he didn't prove it, he didn't convince me!" What, should I? No, I should not, and could not, and would not do that. . It wouldn't make sense or be good.