I Think I Understand

This morning , while half asleep, some of the things I studied, particularly in the early 60s, came wafting into my mind. There came back to me, books such as: Eric hoffer's "True Believer," David David reisman's "Lonely cpCrowd," Aldous Huxley's "Brave new World," George Orwell's "1984," La Pierre's "Social Control." Classes around those books flooded my mind, as well as classes on philosophy, the great philosophers, logic, both Aristotelian logic and modern logic. We had amazing discussions and debates all around these things. We talked about the importance of character development and integrity, not only for the individual but for the society at large.

We had no inkling of course of what was going to happen — of the internet, social media, and now AI. So all those things we learned are like on steroids now.

 Instead of having to get people together in a crowd to control them, they could be controlled over the internet and social media and television, by people they never met, and be part of a group they never met. People can now be riled up before drawn together, so that when they come to an actual event, they are ready to fight.  And in some cases, they are being controlled not by another human but by a bot. The lonely crowd became lonelier. The prediction of the increased prevalence of being outer directed rather than inner directed came usual.

The once somewhat unbiased news people became propagandists for a certain point of view— either on the left or the right, either for or against a religion, either for or against other issues. No more down the middle, just the facts nothing but the facts.

In our wildest dreams, it would never ever have occurred to us that communism would be sold in America - that college professors,  college students, and the average person would see speak positively ,about communism, and that actual communists would run for public office and be elected. It is outlandish to think people would forget the horrors of communism. Back then that would have been considered science fiction, except for a fringe group around such people as Saul Alinsky and his "Rules for Radicals."

 If we continue to slide away from  the meritocracy that made it possible for people to dream and strive for excellence and be successful, if we slide away from capitalism that brought more people out of poverty than anything in the history of the planet, if we stop being the country that people aspire to come to— it is a sad sad day for the future. Who knows how long it would take to establish another place of freedom.

Let's join together to tweak things here and there, but to protect the general tenor of our constitution and our way of life. Let us refuse to be controlled from the outside and be strong, inner directived people.

I am reminded of my long ago Zen sensei who shouted ever so loudly, WAKE UP!

Ancient/Modern Stoics

There is so much about Stoicism that I really like,  especially Epictetus.Some of the emphasises that I particularly like Include the ideas of indifference or neutrality to things that have no immediate reference to one's life or society, and the development of character and integrity being important not only to the individual but to the society in general.

 

In some ways it reminds me of an old friend who wrote the book *Handbook to Higher Consciousness"  quite a long time ago. That book changed my life.

 

One of his main theses was the difference between preference and addiction In relationship to one's peace of mind and happiness.  

 

When I'm addicted to things being my way, to people thinking the same as me, to thinking that I know everything better than others and require everyone to agree with me - or else I lose my temper, or I do manipulative things, or character assassination, or shun them, or begin name calling, or stone throwing, or some form of attack - I have given away my integrity , my standing to myself, and my rational thinking, along with my peace of mind and my happiness. Standing in the state of addiction it is impossible to be at peace or to be happy.

 

However, If I choose preference as my modus operandi, I can notice other people's points of view may differ from my current ideas. I can disagree with them resoectfully. I can say things like "that's an interesting way to look at this." I can choose to do research and see if there's any grain of truth in their point. I can be willing to change my mind when I get new information..And I can stay at peace and happy and true tho my highest self without requiring them to change.

 

 Currently, I see many addicted people, some almost hysterical, and absolutely 1,000% sure they're right and everybody else is wrong. They don't listen at all. They remind me of the pharaoh in the Old Testament - his heart was closed. Many people walking around right now Have closed hearts and minds, and I don't think it serves them or society. Let's just walk and talk and act a little more gently and kindly!. Let's open our hearts and minds to one another and realize there's so much to learn No one can possibly know it all. Walk gently on this earth and leave a trail of kindness and love.

What Can We Control?

Some things are external to us and just happen to us—but our minds are our own, and we can control our internal states and our responses to events: our desires, inclinations, choices, judgments, and intentions; in short, all the things that make up our characters. -Epictitus

 

Today is election day in the United Stares. Some people are extremely excited , even hysterical, over the outcome—on both sides. I think it would be a good thing for our own mental health and for our nation to calm down and realize over the course of our history sometimes one side wins, and sometimes the other side wins. We have no personal control over the outcome. The only things we control are our own vote and our own conversation and our own inner dialog.

 So read and contemplate the opening quote that comes to us from 2000 years ago from a great and wise man. Apply it not only to today, but everyday, so that we are in charge of our own selves and our own peace of mind.

 

What Is A Miracle?

 “Some people believe that nothing is a miracle. I believe that everything is.” —Attributed to Albert Einstein and Marlene Oaks

I remember looking through a child's eyes, so very long ago, how everything was amazing- the clouds , the seeds turning into radishes or flowers or whatever we planted , even watching a snail move slowly across the grass. Then I took science in high school and in college, I was even more amazed. I sometimes say to people that today is like living on an alien planet compared to 1940 when I was born. And everything seems to be accelerating at an accelerating rate on top of all that.

I more and more frequently hear people say things like the idea of  God (life before and after birth, miraculous healings, etc) is just too fantastic to believe in. It seems to me that everything around us is too fantastic to believe in, so we have to open our eyes and minds to realize we are actually living within some fantastic experience.

Yes I have mentioned before we think we're standing still, but our earth is spinning so that each day we make a complete spin. At the equator the earth is almost 25,000 miles in circumference, so that at the equator we travel 25,000 miles a day. On top of that we are 93,000,000 miles from the Sun, but our orbit is something like 584,000,000 miles, so that we travel that far every single year. On top of that our solar system is moving through the Milky Way at an exceedingly rapid rate, at our Milky Way is moving through the galaxies at an incredible speed.    If we bother to total all those speeds up, we would see that we are traveling at the most phenomenal, fantastic, unbelievable speed every moment of our lives. Yet. we still believe we're standing still.

We seem to take it for granted that 1 fertilized egg in any species becomes an incredibly intricate and amazing body, one that replicates itself over and over again and heals wounds so that you can't tell they were ever there! whether it be a human body or an elephant body, how does that happen? 

I'm not suggesting that we believe in every far out theory we hear about, but I am suggesting that we are surrounded and live in countless miracles all of the time. The more science explains, the more astounding it all is. In a few hundred years we've gone from believing the earth was the center of the universe and the stars were maybe angels out in the sky, to knowing there are trillions of universes, so, so therefore probably innumerable  inhabited planets, and numerous ones with intelligent life yet to be discovered.

That's just the tip of the iceberg - the few things I've mentioned here. Putting it all in context, can you now really tell me that God is unlikely ?  Even the AIs are seeing the probable cause of all this is intelligence. That doesn't mean any particular religion holds all the truth, but it does mean something greater than us is likely orchestrating this, creating it, and recreating it. Maybe it's time for us to get in tune with the Infinite.

The Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas is part of  the Nag Hammadi find of 1945, not seen for around 1600 years! Some scholars think was contemporary with the ones that made it into the New Testament. Some think it might be earlier. It is made-up of sayings, about half of which are in the Gospels we know and half are new to us. Let's look at some of them together.

 Jesus said, “If your teachers tell you, ‘The kingdom is up in heaven,’ then the birds will get there before you. If they say, ‘It’s in the ocean,’ then the fish will beat you there. Actually, the kingdom is both inside you and all around you. When you truly understand who you are, then others will recognize you too, and you’ll realize you’re children of the living Father. But if you don’t know yourself, you’re living in spiritual poverty—and you are that poverty.”

I love that we see Jesus's humor here. Heaven's not where God is, for the bird would get there 1st, is very humorous, as well as the fish in the ocean would get there 1st. 

To me this is somewhat reminiscent of Luke where he says the kingdom of heaven is within, but here he says the kingdom is within you and all around you, everywhere. It also makes me think of the Psalmist who said from the mountaintop to the depths, God is there.

When we think partially about God as infinite intelligence that created and recreates everything constantly, it only makes sense that intelligence is present everywhere, otherwise things would start falling apart. For hundreds of thousands of people, probably millions, including me, the presence of God is felt wherever we are, whenever we turn to it.

Knowing who we are is like the old adage on the Greek temples "Know thyself." So here he says if you know yourself, apparently there is some radiation from you that you will be seen by others as someone spiritually awake. And then you'll have inside of you spiritual riches, otherwise you have spiritual poverty, and are poverty itself.  It is squarely on us, it's up to us to determine our lives, of what living as a Godly being is. Nobody can do it for us.

 As I listen to people's stories, watch the news, and see life unfolding around me, it seems to me many are living in spiritual poverty right now. What a blessing to life on earth it would be if there was a swing towards the spiritual. Everything on earth would change for the better. I don't know if it's possible since it hasn't ever happened in history, but maybe just maybe, if we see it and move toward it, it could actually happen. Let's just try.

Although I rarely mention anything political on this blog, I feel the need to mention the vitriol that I'm hearing on the television between various points of view and people. 

It seems to me it would serve our airways our democracy and our peace of mind, if people simply just told the truth,plain old-fashioned truth, if candidates would speak about themselves, their positions and positives, and stop saying awful things about their opponents. We would learn something about them that would be useful in our decision making.

My two cents worth for today 

Self Control

 Early on in my life I learned self-control, partially for necessity and partially taught by my family. Take a deep breath , count to 10, think before you act, etc. Consider what somebody is saying, and just make sure there's not a grain of truth in it before you get upset. Or better yet know that everybody has a right to their own opinion, and they don't all have to agree with you. Maybe we can learn from each other.

Right we see a lack of self control  in many places. Politicians are saying a lot of bizarre things,  pro-communism -  crazy ideas - and slinging mud at each other. It makes me wonder if there is a same person with integrity out there to vote for?

It's no doubt western civilization is under attack all over the world. Western civilization brought the idea of democracy and freedom and the ability for a person who works hard to succeed. Western civilization brought hospitals and libraries and orphanages and museums and philosophy and science and rights for women and a thousand great things.

In Europe My heart breaks for the rampage that's going on against western civilization there right at this very minute. I saw people trying to break into the Louve. I saw the Roman Colosseum under attack, and I had tears in my eyes.

Immigrants came on purpose to these countries,but oppose everything about those countries, and are now trying to destroy them.

Unthinking mobs , out of control, frenzied people, are creating mayhem and a huge amount of destruction. When a mob gets going, hysteria takes over, and people are not  using the frontal lobe of their brains and are out of control in emotional hinges.

I think it rests on many years of propaganda against the West from many places,  - from communist countries, from Islamic countries, from pure ignorance, from so many far left people of influence. 

Anyone who has traveled knows that although we are not perfect, we have better lives here in the West than people do in communist regimes or in dictatorships. Students of history know we are better off than any time in the past. 

I think we need to be aware of those who want to destroy the West, and subject us to their crazy ideas. I think it will be good for us to stand up for freedom and not for the horrors of anarchy or communism.

Can We Escape Our Past?

 We are all, in a way, immigrants from the past. --- God, A Biography

I just started reading this book this morning , and this quote stuck out to my mind. That's an interesting thought that he explains well. He uses the example of someone raised in extreme wealth, and as adult gives away his. his wealth. He still has his history of being raised in luxury and cannot erase it, for.it affects everything he does.

He also asserts that even though the West has turned considerably away from Christianity and Judaism, it still affects our points of view and our values. You can see it when you visit another country that is different and somehow also has strains of a different history showing up currently.

I was thinking of my life my particular life. It has been a mixed bag of positive and negatives, growing up and along the way. All of it was my teacher. If you read my recent book, "The Book of my Life, I Wouldn't Believe It Either If I Hadn't Lived It," you know all the gory details.

But I can see how I'm an immigrant from that past. I have carried on some of the positive traits that were ingrained to me in my childhood, and I have endeavored to not incorporate the negative things in my life, in my relationships, or or in my child rearing. 

Yet all of it is carried within me because it's my history, my experience. I can't really escape it, but I don't have to reenact it. 

Some people are like immigrants who come here from a violent and repressive country, but try to make this country into the country they escaped from. 

Some people who had difficult childhoods keep re-enacting it in the here and now, keep imposing their dramas on their children and grandchildren, rather than breaking the chain, beginning a new story.

It is challenging to be an immigrant, whether to choose to leave a country and begin again in a new country, or to choose to leave the family story behind the begin a new story. Either way it takes courage I encourage us all to break the chains of anything negative holding us back, tying us to the past that was dysfunctional, and began a new functional life so that we can be all that we are meant to be. Each of us have gifts within us that we need to give. I know that to be true. Have courage to be an immigrant who lets go of the past and moves into this present day fresh and new and glorious and listening to the highest spirit to guide you into magnificence!

Has the World Gone Crazy?

 In so many ways as we look around, It seems like the world has gone crazy.   But is it any more crazy than it has ever been?

My minor was in history, and I frequently read historical things because it is one of my interests. It seems like humanity has always been struggling to find sanity.  Many many bizarre things Have happened throughout the whole course of history. 

And yet it seems to me that the vast majority of people have just been trying to live a life the best they can. It is the minority on the fringes that create the craziness and the many many problems.

 However, people seem to get caught up in other people's craziness. In almost every part of the world, some person has called out for killing some other people and got an otherwise normal group of people all riled up, and who then went out and killed people with rocks, clubs, machetes, catapults, swords, bullets, bombs, and words, mostly shouted in slogans - in other words with whatever weapon they happen to have at that moment of human development.

A group frenzy is hard to quell. Perhaps we humans have a fatal flaw We allow, or cannot resist, someone else's shouting to engage our emotions We then do things we would not normally do, and are later ashamed of.

Standing at perhaps another tipping point of history , it might serve us well to ask how can we protect ourselves from being part of someone else's frenzy and doing things that are not good for other humans including ourselves actually? How can we refuse getting swamped by our emotional brain and somehow stay in our critical thinking part of our brain? How can we  refuse to get caught up in someone else's battle  cry and slogans and craziness?  

 Is it possible for us to stand strong, clear, and sane in the midst of other people's emotional haranguing? I think it's important for us to take charge of ourselves and do all we can not to get cut up.  If we can somehow remain sane, history will look back on this time and salute and celebrate those who had the courage to hold  the line and not let things fall apart.

Words Silenced for 1600 Years

 The resurrection is different. It is real, it stands firm. It is revelation of what is, a transformation of things, a transition into newness. --- The Treatise on Resurrection

This is quote is from another one of the writings in the Nag Hammadi Library.

This reminds me of writings I've shared here  at Easter time. Things are made new in the spring time. Seeds sprout and become beautiful flowers. Caterpillars in cocoons dissolve and reform as a butterfly and come out in their glory. Dead looking trees suddenly have green leaves sprouting all over.   So I agree, yes, resurrection is real. I can see it in our world.

I also see it in our own lives at all levels. Our bodies are making new cells everyday. Scrapes and cuts and bruises are healing and disappear as if they were never there. The foods we eat somehow magically transform themselves into muscle and bone and hair and skin and everything that our body is. Newness is everywhere. 

 I also see newness in my emotions, and my understanding, in my intellectual abilities et cetera. I'm certainly not the same person that I was when I was a child, for I am so much more. I have learned and done and been in so many places, so many things have happened Newness is around every corner.

I have had spiritual experiences that have proven to me that my spirit or soul is here, but is not locked into my body.  it is rhe eternal part. I also know, with a near death and life after life experiences, that we all continue after death of our bodies. We all are accountable for what we do in this life, with the gift of life on earth.

I one way, I could say this whole thing is a resurrection experience There are clues everywhere. Just start looking for them And you will find them

PS—I am continually excited about reading words that Christians read and honored and discussed and argued over in the 1st - 4th centuries and have not been available until recently for us. It is exciting to hear the voices that have been shuttered by people afraid of hearing them so very long ago. It appears that the shuttering was very profound beginning in the 4th century although some of it happened earlier. So just imagine we can now read words that have not been read for 1600 years.

The Gospel of Truth

 Steady the feet of those who stumble and extend your hands to the sick. Feed the hungry and give rest to the weary. Awaken those who wish to arise and rouse those who sleep, for you embody vigorous understanding. If what is strong acts like this, it becomes even stronger. --- The Gospel of Truth

The Gospel of Truth is another one of the Gosoels in the Nag Hammadi library. I find it quite fascinating The above quote is one of many that touch my soul. It calls us to do the things Jesus taught, and at the same time it says doing these things makes us stronger.

The side effect of becoming stronger by caring for others is something of a new idea to me. I've thought of it as making my faith stronger, making me want to do more good in the world, but the author of the Gospel of Truth says it makes us stronger. Seems like that's a wonderful benefit of being a good person. I can see the converse. Being a bad person and not doing good makes us weaker in spirit and in body.

I suggest that we do those wonderful things and allow ourselves to become stronger and make this world a better place at the same time.

The Secret Book of James

 Understand what the great light is. The Father does not need me. A father does not need a son, but it is the son who needs the father. --- The Secret Book of James

 The Secret Book of James comes from the Nag Hammadi library discovered in 1945 in Egypt. In the year 367CE Athanasius sent out an Easter letter declaring there were 27 books to be read as sacred.(the first known list of what ended up to be the New Testament) Other books were destroyed, but at least some monks hid the other books for safe keeping. Some have been found including the find in 1945. Because of this we now can read books that were quoted by some of the early fathers, but we didn't have copies of. I thought I would share bits of it along the way with you.

One thing is that we have discovered is that for sure early Christianity had a lot of diversity. There was deep thinking in all sorts of directions.  For me it's exciting to go back to those days and read what was being written and circulated by the early Christian thinkers.

The quote above brings something of a new idea. God doesn't need us, we need God.  Since it is Jesus speaking, he needs God, God doesn't need him -  now there's an interesting twist! 

Another quote reminds me of something from our New Testament. "Become better than I. Be like the child of the Holy Spirit.” That reminds me of when Jesus said greater things than this shall you do. I see those statements as related. It is somewhat startling to phrase it this way - become better than I. Although many of us strive to be as Christ-like as possible, I don't imagine any of us thinks we've come better than Christ. I guess that's an aspirational goal flung at us.

I hope you will think about these things and join me in a little romp through these ancient books and letters.

Where can we find the soul?

 Hildegard of Bingen In the 12th century said that the soul is not in the body. The body is in the soul.

This reminds me a little bit About Plato. He hypothesized that reality had 2 aspects - the physical world and the unchanging realm of perfect forms, and the soul belonged to the second realm, and that's why he knew or  hypothesized that the soul would survive death and even existed before birth.

It also leads me to think about the new neurology that says the brain may be more of a receiver and the mind or soul or consciousness is sending thoughts to it and directing it.

All the current information about near death experiences also comes to mind in relation to all this.

There are intriguing thoughts to explore here. I am fairly certain that our essence, our soul, existed before we were born. I actually started thinking about this when my children were born. They were so different right from the very 1st moments of their lives here in earth. 

 I have come to believe that earth is a school for our souls to have experiences, to develop, and to grow. I am fairly certain the main broad outlines we decided before coming to earth. I am also certain that our soul continues after we leave our body to earth. If you have read my latest book you know the story about how my certainty was born.

So I am somewhat aligned with Plato then. I'm also aligned with Hildegard. And I am convinced by the life after life, near death experiences, at least some of them. I don't really know enough about neurology to know if the new model is accurate, but it does seem To hold merit.

It seems to me we are responsible to learn our life lessons. We are here with a purpose You have a purpose, or purposes, as have I. Let's strive to do our best with the raw material of this life. Turn darkness into light. 

New Bible

  If you are a student of history, you know that  Athanasius the 4th century ordered all books he didn't think should be read to be destroyed. It seemed they pretty much had been destroyed, but in 1945 in Egypt, near the town of Nag Hammadi, many of them were found hidden in buried jars. It was thought that monks from a nearby monastaery likely buried them to save them from the destroy order. It was known that they had existed at one time because early writers mentioned them or quoted from them.

 We knew there was much diversity of thought in early Christianity, but now we had writings that were outside of the Canon that told the story Of the great variety of early Christian thought.

Many of the manuscripts Did not speak so much from the voice of a believer, but more from the voice of a seeker of God. One of them, the Gospel of Thomas ,had 114 sayings of Jesus, half of which were in the current New Testament, and half of them were new to us.

I mention this to point out that Christianity is not just one stream. There are and have been many ways to look at Jesus and what became Christianity. There are many brilliant thinkers along the way and some very messed up thinkers. I think a dialog today would be healthy instead of different groups sort of standing in their corner and shouting we're right and you're wrong Theere is another way to look at it, many other ways in fact. 

Hoaxes - People Fall For Them Eveytime

 Throughout history , people have fallen for hoaxes over and over again. Some become legends which grew into so-called facts or oddities of history. Some have faded into the mists of time. I think of PT Barnum who said 'there's a sucker born every minute."

In my childhood, I became aware of one of these hoaxes. H.G. Wells had a radio show presentation of his "War of the Worlds."  It was on the radio 2 years before I was born, but I heard people talking about it many times. Basically it sounded like a warning the Martians had invaded, and we were all in danger. Quite a few people thoight it was a real warning of doom. My mother apparently did, and held onto that for years. I remember my mother waking me up in the middle of the night terrified, shaking and sobbing the Martians had landed on our roof. There were some pretty wild sounds on the roof, but they turned out to be cats in heat.

I do remember all the crazy McCarthy hearings when he claimed almost everybody was a communist, and he was getting people fired and all kinds of horrible things were happening. Nobody vetted him because they were afraid of being called a communist.

We had global cooling and then global warming then climate change. According to the prophets of these things, we should all be under water and life on earth should be untenable before now for sure.

 Particularly in the last couple of hundred years so-called Christian prophets have said the second coming is happening, and the world is coming to an end on this or that date - but of course it never did. Nevertheless many people believed them over and over again, sold their belongings or gave them away and ran for the hills.

Hoaxes seem currently to be multiplying like odd socks in the dryer. 

 We have an actress who posed partially nude in a commercial, much like models, actresses, and sports women posed on Sports illustrated covers plus inside issues and Victoria Secret Catalogs. But this time there is an uproar over it - People are upset, or perhaps acting upset over something that they were never upset about up until this minute. They're trying to create a political issue out of i,t. It's really weird to watch.

There's an uproar over AI installations now, even though there have been these for quite a few years with no problems. They recycle their water. They don't increase electric bills, and they're now building their own electric plants. They provide employment. Everyone who uses a cell phone or a Kindle or laptop or computer needs these centers, they use them everyday.  Certain people are now trying to make a big issue out of them. It seems that China wants us to stop building AI plants and expanding because they want to catch up with us and soar past us. Because they're way behind. they're planting false information and people are repeating it. It is really fascinating to watch this crazyness.

Well I could list a number of other current craziness going on right now, but hopefully you get the picture. I think it's so important to investigate and not just take something because somebody said it and believe it and act on it. We need to ask questions, we need to think, and that goes for every area of our lives.

Of course my main area of interest has always been spirituality. There is a lot of craziness in that area all through history, including right now. It is said that there are at least 30,000 Christian denominations and 300+ translations of the Bible. Many of them disagree on key points with one another. They can't all be right. We need to think through things, go back to what Jesus said and did, and ask what is most likely to agree with him. 

It will be really wise of us to not succumb to lazy thinking, just taking on other people's statements as if they know what they're talking about. Do some research - Google it, ask Grok. Check things out. 

I have long thought that God is Infinite Intelligence. Some of that intelligence is seeded in me, so I'm supposed to use it. That's true for you too I am certain. Go forth with courage. 

My Daddy Said...

 My daddy was a very wise man, and he had a lot of folk wisdom quotes that he would issue. He used to say that some people were so bull-headed that they couldn't see the truth if it hit them over the head.

Today I think we might call that cognitive dissonance. I see it around me all the time. Somebody holds some belief for other, and  when almost irrefutable evidence or a solid argument contrary is shown them, they make up some kind of bizarre excuses or twists or reasons why their belief is true and the proof is not actually proof at all. They refuse to even contemplate the possibility that they might need to change their belief system or change the idea they're holding so dearly to their ignorant heart.

Of course we see it in history clearly because we're not so close to it. We can look at the people who believed the earth was flat long after it was proven we live on a globe. We can look at the people who thought the earth was the center of the universe long after we knew that we were in an orbit around the sun and part of a solar system that was part of a galaxy that was part of other galaxies.  

One of the causes of cognitive dissonance and bull-headedness is not necessarily obviously science. We have the situation where humans  misinterpret things and make up philosophies and religions that have no bearing and fact. We have today even people who make up false scientific so-called data and endeavor to convince people that their point of view is accurate.

For example, I'm not a scientist, but I did get an A+ in biology in high school and in college.   I know that there are 2 sexes. I also know there are many ways to express one's sexuality, but biologically there are 2 sexes.  Some people, for some strange reason, have decided to promote the idea there are many sexes. They have convinced some people this is true. But it's not true, scientifically speaking. In someone's imagination maybe it seems true. They seemingly cannot be dissuaded, their cognitive dissonance leads their way.

Cognitive dissonance can be seen in almost any area you want to look at, whether it be politics or religion or science. For me I have been in a quest for truth, so if I find myself wanting to defend some belief, I stop and take stock of myself. What are some other points of view about this issue?  What are some other ways to look at this? I might end up with a partially different view or absolutely different view or I might remain pretty much with the same view. I think it serves us to honestly look at things, not just defend sacred positions that maybe we don't even remember how we acquired them. 

I really urge us all not to take things for granted. Examine everything carefully. Of course now with the internet there are many false things being promoted, some of them by our enemies. But more insidious are the things we learned along the way and think are true, but not everybody thinks they're true. It is clear to me that mutually exclusive things cannot all be correct. If others hold a different view, someone is incorrect or only have part of the information. 

So let us take the courage to examine our points of view, rather than be bull-headed as my Daddy used to say.

So Many Worlds

 I've I've been watching Masterchef Australia in the evenings. I'm struck by different ways that English language is used, the different foods that they eat, the different people that are famous. For example, when a famous chef comes in and they all cheer and shout and clap, it's almost always someone I've never heard of, even though I have watched lots of cooking shows and read lots of cookbooks. The contestants hug one another and cheer for one another , whereas  in the American version there's a lot of back biting and snickering and jealousy and things that are upsetting, so that I don't even like to watch it. I see these people in Australia who have a whole other experience of life on earth.in so many ways. Of course in other ways it's the same —People want love and happiness, they want to model good behavior for their children, they want a home and good income and all the things that everybody wants.

Which led me to think about all the different experiences of life on earth. Not only in each country but in each section or subsection of each country, life is totally different. And I think we sometimes forget that and think everybody's experiencing the same earth as we are. They likely have similar dreams and goals, but see them through unique lenses.

It seems like we're all living in a different bubble. Travel can help open us to understand each other, if we're open to exploring other peoples and cultures and not just go and stay in our own country style of hotel and do the same things we would do if we were home.

I had a vision of people reaching out of their bubbles to other people reaching out of their bubbles, leading to understanding and also to realization that in the end we all want very much the same thing.  If we could do this, I think it would assist in us moving toward peace on earth , which is pne of my lifelong dreams. Maybe it's your dream too. I hope so.

Reprise of Middle Ages

 I read a disturbing opinion piece today. The premise basically was that in the middle ages there was a lot of disease caused by filth and poverty, a lot of rats and fleas, a lot of human waste In public places   At the same time there were some great literary geniuses writing, cathedrals rising, and some pretty great thinking in spots.

 Here in the 21st century,   in many cities, great cities, we have the same situation! Seemingly in progressive led cities there are similar conditions that were in the middle ages There are encampments of people living in filth with rats and fleas and disease. At the same time there are great developments in AI, Interstellar travel, magnificent telescopes out in space, medicine, and so much more. 

It seems to me it really is a disgrace that we are creating a situation to allow people to live like that In the streets. There are solutions We need the will to solve this problem! Let's put our great minds together and turn around this Terrible medieval Situation in our very midst. 

Connections

  I've been thinking about how connections to one another  and even to memories, create  community. I have been talking to some who don't have much community , and seem to have problems with depression. Humans are social beings.

For much of human historyOur ancestors lived in groups. They lived in family groups and tribal groups. Eventually they moved to cities and formed small groups within the cities.   

As wonderful as modern technology is, it has a many ways fractured us from one another. I know of a wonderful woman who has now created her life around television, not around actual people. She resents all interruptions from others. I know of young people who would rather play video games, than go outside and play with neighborhood children.       

I have said to some people that this world is like an alien planet compared to the 1940 world I was born into. I think I could extend that to say that, to the vast majority of all humanity that has ever lived on this planet, this current time is an alien planet. 

It occurs to me that a useful question we might ask ourselves is - How do we enjoy and utilize these marvelous technologies, and stay in connection to other actual humans? How do we retain our humanity?

Are You Hypnotized?

 I had a very interesting conversation yesterday with an old friend. She was extremely upset over various news stories leaning in one particular direction.  That is, she didn't consider any other point of view. She would say something about what I believed or did, which was not what I believed or did, and it took me several times of repeating something until her eyes blinked and she looked at me and said "oh."

It flashed in my mind that she was coming from a state of hypnosis, clicking back into the present moment. That made me think about when I studied hypnosis back in the late 70s with a medical doctor that had delivered over 5,000 babies with hypnosis. I took his class at the advice of a mentor who said it would teach me how the mind worked. I certainly learned a great deal!

One thing in particular flashed in my mind in relationship to yesterday. He said the cycles of a television are in sync with the brain cycles, and if you sit and watch television for a few minutes, you go into at least a light state of hypnosis, and for some people a deeper state. What that means is that everything said goes deeply into your subconscious mind. If you only listen to left leaning or right leaning news, that point of view is deeply seared in your subconscious mind. So when you hear anything to the contrary you fight it. You probably don't realize that you've been programmed subconsciously by somebody else's point of view. are angry and upset because you know the truth, or so it seems to you. 

You're highly unlikely to realize that these ideas have bypassed your conscious mind and have been instilled in your subconscious, so they seem like the truth. We owe it to ourselves to awaken.

There have been so many revelations lately about how we've been lied to by leaders and by the press, that to me it makes everything they say somewhat suspect. I think it's important to listen to both sides of whatever issue and to critically weigh through them so that you're sure that what you think you believe is your actual belief not somebody else's.

 At the very least, listen to left and right leaning stations and realize they have opposite interpretations of what just happened or is happening. They are mutually exclusive. They cannot both be true. My general rule of thumb is the truth must lie somewhere in between these two extremes. But if I do not have personal experience and knowledge of whatever the subject is, I can never know for sure. If I look at all sides and think clearly and logically, perhaps I can figure out what's the most likely thing to be true, but even that's not fail safe. 

To be the best person I can be is my ultimate responsibility. That's a big project and something I've been working on for all 86 years, and still in process.