Random Thought For a Rainy Day (because it is always raining somewhere): Part Five: Do You Get Out Enough? You are probably sitting as you read this here, and in doing so… it is killing you. The moment you sat down, your body stopped cleaning fat from the blood in your legs and the activity in the muscles below your waist went (metaphorically speaking but also in a real physical way), went dead and silent. Scientists have concluded that persons whom sit for more than six hours a day risk depression more than double that of those whom do not. This translates into that person (the one whom sits all the time), having a thirty percent higher chance of death in the following decade. Fifteen minutes a day of walking… fifteen minutes… can add three years to ones life. Sixteen Weeks of regular exercise is said to cure depression in sixty percent of sufferers. In a world where Prozac and other such pharmaceutical magical pills are now seen as the new way to cure everything it is slightly ironic (and once again showcases the dichotomy of our species) that the simplest way for many (not all… if only it were that easy), to cure themselves of what ails them (not just in a heath sense of the word either) is to simply…. Stand Up.
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Random Thought For a Rainy Day (because it is always raining somewhere): Part Five:

Do You Get Out Enough?

You are probably sitting as you read this here, and in doing so… it is killing you.

The moment you sat down, your body stopped cleaning fat from the blood in your legs and the activity in the muscles below your waist went (metaphorically speaking but also in a real physical way), went dead and silent.

Scientists have concluded that persons whom sit for more than six hours a day risk depression more than double that of those whom do not. This translates into that person (the one whom sits all the time), having a thirty percent higher chance of death in the following decade.

Fifteen minutes a day of walking… fifteen minutes… can add three years to ones life. Sixteen Weeks of regular exercise is said to cure depression in sixty percent of sufferers.

In a world where Prozac and other such pharmaceutical magical pills are now seen as the new way to cure everything it is slightly ironic (and once again showcases the dichotomy of our species) that the simplest way for many (not all… if only it were that easy), to cure themselves of what ails them (not just in a heath sense of the word either) is to simply….

Stand Up.

The Story of Your Enslavement is one person’s thoughts on the history of our species and why it is we are the way we are today. Interesting as a starting point for the discussion of many things, it is definitely trying to forward one point of view of our species… and is most definitely a very pessimistic piece of work. Still, for anyone interested in the ideas of how we interact as a species, it may be a good starting point for further discussions of the numerous ideas (that are slightly glossed over) within…. agree with the premise of the video or not.
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The Story of Your Enslavement is one person’s thoughts on the history of our species and why it is we are the way we are today. Interesting as a starting point for the discussion of many things, it is definitely trying to forward one point of view of our species… and is most definitely a very pessimistic piece of work. Still, for anyone interested in the ideas of how we interact as a species, it may be a good starting point for further discussions of the numerous ideas (that are slightly glossed over) within…. agree with the premise of the video or not.

We are like people looking for something they have in their hands all the time; we’re looking in all directions except at the thing we want, which is probably why we haven’t found it.
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We are like people looking for something they have in their hands all the time; we’re looking in all directions except at the thing we want, which is probably why we haven’t found it.

Just Exactly How Many Labels Do You Need to Feel You Belong?
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Just Exactly How Many Labels Do You Need to Feel You Belong?

Remember the day you were born? If you could remember back to that day, what do you think were the first words that were uttered as you found your way into this world? I would bet my last dollar (that for most people) it would be three little words. “It’s a girl” “It’s a boy” Just those three little words. Nothing more would need to be stated, for in those three little words lay all that there is of our species. Never once would the first words uttered about your existence be things like “it’s a homosexual”, “ It’s a Christian Fundamentalist Reformist “, “It’s a Liberal/Conservative”, “ It’s a Black/Mexican/Chinese/White/Caucasian /Indigenous person” “It’s an illegal alien with two children and no husband sponging off my hard earned tax dollars wanting free health care and schooling” “It’s a 1 percent-er” “ It’s a ninty-nine percent-er… those (and many, many, MANY more), labels come later. You know the ones. The ones that we as humans put on each other. The ones that make us all see each other as this or that, allow us to hate, to begin a life of struggles to be “equal” with everyone else. The ones that have created pages upon pages of laws/books of philosophy, ideas of existence and so on to show us we are equal (or not). The ones that we think help us to understand each other (and ourselves) so much better, but more often than not stifle us as a species. The ones that force us to waste our time on such small minded thoughts when we could be exploring the universe, seeking out cures, understanding our inner minds and all we could un-tap within them. But instead we are worried about whom one is sleeping with, whom one is praying to, whom one is voting for. Instead we are wasting our time in the constant struggle to become, to be recognized as, and to have…equal/equality. But the strange thing is… we already are, and when you came into this world, the only thing that anyone said was if you were a boy or a girl (sometimes even less.. you just need to know they were born), and for at least those few very first minutes, there was no thought of anything else. There were no judgments. There was not classifying, no burdening of labels and no segregating of thoughts. You just were and that was enough, (and in fact for those first few moments in your small little existence, you made everyone around you very happy). So why as time goes on do we (all of us) allow this to happen? Why do we set ourselves up to need to struggle in life? Why do we not fight to maintain the euphoria of our births? Why can’t we just remember back to those first few minutes and understand we are all equal, all the same? Perhaps it is because we can’t remember our birth, as generally humans can’t remember much before their first birthday other than fuzzy bits and pieces of half jumbled up ideas of memories of that time. We can’t remember back to the time when we did not have to worry about such things, because then our minds were really free. We only begin to really remember things when we begin to see things in terms of all the labels that humans put on everything, and in some ways it is understandable we label all things, for how hard would it be for us to understand anything if we did not have a basis to begin an assessment? Then again, if we could remember back to that time, maybe our understanding (or lack there of) of the labels we now use and how they limit us all would help us to make a change. Maybe we could see we are wasting our time, trying so hard to fight to be equal to others. Because no matter whom you are, not matter what status you have, what sex your are, what colour, what creed, what political affiliation, what thought you have about existence, whom you choose to have sex with (or not)… ALL of us are less equal (in the labels) of someone else’s eyes…. ALL of us. So why not remember that the next time you decide to say we are not equal, when you stand up for the legislation to make us so, why not laugh and scoff at the human need to put in writing what was always ours to begin with. The next time a religion, a political idea, a group says that we need to fight for (or against) something? Stand up for real equality, not just equality of labels. Understand we squandered away our equality, sold it down the river. And all for a label to feel we belong. It’s a boy, It’s a girl. Equality is so simple, if you really want it to be. It is human thought that makes it complicated. Photo: Jason Decartes Taylor
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Remember the day you were born?

If you could remember back to that day, what do you think were the first words that were uttered as you found your way into this world? I would bet my last dollar (that for most people) it would be three little words.

“It’s a girl”
“It’s a boy”

Just those three little words. Nothing more would need to be stated, for in those three little words lay all that there is of our species. Never once would the first words uttered about your existence be things like “it’s a homosexual”, “ It’s a Christian Fundamentalist Reformist “, “It’s a Liberal/Conservative”, “ It’s a Black/Mexican/Chinese/White/Caucasian /Indigenous person” “It’s an illegal alien with two children and no husband sponging off my hard earned tax dollars wanting free health care and schooling” “It’s a 1 percent-er” “ It’s a ninty-nine percent-er… those (and many, many, MANY more), labels come later.

You know the ones. The ones that we as humans put on each other. The ones that make us all see each other as this or that, allow us to hate, to begin a life of struggles to be “equal” with everyone else. The ones that have created pages upon pages of laws/books of philosophy, ideas of existence and so on to show us we are equal (or not). The ones that we think help us to understand each other (and ourselves) so much better, but more often than not stifle us as a species. The ones that force us to waste our time on such small minded thoughts when we could be exploring the universe, seeking out cures, understanding our inner minds and all we could un-tap within them.

But instead we are worried about whom one is sleeping with, whom one is praying to, whom one is voting for. Instead we are wasting our time in the constant struggle to become, to be recognized as, and to have…equal/equality.

But the strange thing is… we already are, and when you came into this world, the only thing that anyone said was if you were a boy or a girl (sometimes even less.. you just need to know they were born), and for at least those few very first minutes, there was no thought of anything else. There were no judgments. There was not classifying, no burdening of labels and no segregating of thoughts. You just were and that was enough, (and in fact for those first few moments in your small little existence, you made everyone around you very happy).

So why as time goes on do we (all of us) allow this to happen? Why do we set ourselves up to need to struggle in life? Why do we not fight to maintain the euphoria of our births? Why can’t we just remember back to those first few minutes and understand we are all equal, all the same?

Perhaps it is because we can’t remember our birth, as generally humans can’t remember much before their first birthday other than fuzzy bits and pieces of half jumbled up ideas of memories of that time. We can’t remember back to the time when we did not have to worry about such things, because then our minds were really free. We only begin to really remember things when we begin to see things in terms of all the labels that humans put on everything, and in some ways it is understandable we label all things, for how hard would it be for us to understand anything if we did not have a basis to begin an assessment?

Then again, if we could remember back to that time, maybe our understanding (or lack there of) of the labels we now use and how they limit us all would help us to make a change. Maybe we could see we are wasting our time, trying so hard to fight to be equal to others.

Because no matter whom you are, not matter what status you have, what sex your are, what colour, what creed, what political affiliation, what thought you have about existence, whom you choose to have sex with (or not)… ALL of us are less equal (in the labels) of someone else’s eyes…. ALL of us.

So why not remember that the next time you decide to say we are not equal, when you stand up for the legislation to make us so, why not laugh and scoff at the human need to put in writing what was always ours to begin with. The next time a religion, a political idea, a group says that we need to fight for (or against) something? Stand up for real equality, not just equality of labels. Understand we squandered away our equality, sold it down the river. And all for a label to feel we belong.

It’s a boy, It’s a girl.

Equality is so simple, if you really want it to be. It is human thought that makes it complicated.


Photo: Jason Decartes Taylor

A Dose of Sanity: Part Sixteen While believing that persons have a right to self determination (in the sense of the idea we can’t actually have full self determination as a reality in the world we have created), and fully supporting the idea of equality (again within the same parameters), I sometimes wonder what makes humans desire things others want … and call it equality. Take same sex marriages for example. My first thought is to think… so what. Marry whom you want, why should I care (because quite frankly I have more pressing issues of human thought to think about than the mundane preoccupation so many people seem to have with the idea of two people of the same gender desiring to be married), but then when I actually THINK about the idea of it I start to think… When marriage has already outlived its original purpose, and become a joke (again, respect to those that desire it), it’s funny to see people now fighting for the right to same-sex marriage. Do those who rally around this outdated concept of our species really understand what the purposes of marriage was for in the first place, the ideas that originated behind it and the forms of repression and society creating it as a norm (through religious dogma and the like) for these reasons that its origins are based on? Or are they just like everyone else in this (sorry to say it) superficial fishbowl need of their own existence and idea to be “equal”, they simply want it because they don’t have it and see it as an equality issue (which I can see their point as it being), and nothing more (which is the real issue and the real things they should be looking at). If they really saw it as such, it seems to me they would be rallying against the outdated and draconian idea ANY type of marriage (again, I do respect the right of anyone whom chooses to marry… I am just trying to point out its origins were based on dogma and suppression). But humans are not like that. In our drive to be “equal” we often just see what we want to see, because we don’t have what somone else has. Sadly, we forget that often what we want to be “equal” is at the opression/supression of another… but hey as long as we are equal… right! …Maybe people are so bored with existence that they would take up any trivial matter as a ‘cause’, or maybe their too busy getting what is theirs (you know… we all call it equality), that they forget (like the who rally against them) the big picture That is the REAL equality of us ALL (Please keep the hatin civil)
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A Dose of Sanity:

Part Sixteen

While believing that persons have a right to self determination (in the sense of the idea we can’t actually have full self determination as a reality in the world we have created), and fully supporting the idea of equality (again within the same parameters), I sometimes wonder what makes humans desire things others want … and call it equality.

Take same sex marriages for example. My first thought is to think… so what. Marry whom you want, why should I care (because quite frankly I have more pressing issues of human thought to think about than the mundane preoccupation so many people seem to have with the idea of two people of the same gender desiring to be married), but then when I actually THINK about the idea of it I start to think…

When marriage has already outlived its original purpose, and become a joke (again, respect to those that desire it), it’s funny to see people now fighting for the right to same-sex marriage.

Do those who rally around this outdated concept of our species really understand what the purposes of marriage was for in the first place, the ideas that originated behind it and the forms of repression and society creating it as a norm (through religious dogma and the like) for these reasons that its origins are based on?

Or are they just like everyone else in this (sorry to say it) superficial fishbowl need of their own existence and idea to be “equal”, they simply want it because they don’t have it and see it as an equality issue (which I can see their point as it being), and nothing more (which is the real issue and the real things they should be looking at).

If they really saw it as such, it seems to me they would be rallying against the outdated and draconian idea ANY type of marriage (again, I do respect the right of anyone whom chooses to marry… I am just trying to point out its origins were based on dogma and suppression). But humans are not like that. In our drive to be “equal” we often just see what we want to see, because we don’t have what somone else has. Sadly, we forget that often what we want to be “equal” is at the opression/supression of another… but hey as long as we are equal… right!

…Maybe people are so bored with existence that they would take up any trivial matter as a ‘cause’, or maybe their too busy getting what is theirs (you know… we all call it equality), that they forget (like the who rally against them) the big picture

That is the REAL equality of us ALL

(Please keep the hatin civil)

Do you ever wonder….. “is it worth it”? Statistics say that every three seconds in the world someone attempts suicide. The Quran forbids suicide (as does the Catholic Church, and most other religious ideologies in the sense of saying they will send you to .. you know, that other BAD place), but out of all the religions (despite the propaganda against them), Muslims kill themselves the least.. Those that identify as atheists are most likely to take that final step in their own demise. Switzerland (with the third longest life expectancy in the world) does a brisk trade in “suicide tourism”, being that there, any doctor, friend, or complete stranger can help you kill yourself … it’s legal. Think that is barbaric? We don’t think twice about putting down a pet that is suffering because of some painful affliction that they will never recover from, yet we can’t bring ourselves to let our loved ones have the same dignity and rights. As with all things in life, nothing is black and white. Grays/Greys are everywhere
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Do you ever wonder….. “is it worth it”?

Statistics say that every three seconds in the world someone attempts suicide.

The Quran forbids suicide (as does the Catholic Church, and most other religious ideologies in the sense of saying they will send you to .. you know, that other BAD place), but out of all the religions (despite the propaganda against them), Muslims kill themselves the least..

Those that identify as atheists are most likely to take that final step in their own demise.

Switzerland (with the third longest life expectancy in the world) does a brisk trade in “suicide tourism”, being that there, any doctor, friend, or complete stranger can help you kill yourself … it’s legal.

Think that is barbaric? We don’t think twice about putting down a pet that is suffering because of some painful affliction that they will never recover from, yet we can’t bring ourselves to let our loved ones have the same dignity and rights.

As with all things in life, nothing is black and white. Grays/Greys are everywhere

Because we all need to feel we are number one at something…..
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Because we all need to feel we are number one at something…..

Good Intention Photos that Make Me Think… Well Wait a Minute: Part Fourteen: You Are What You Consume… I often hear people complain about stores such as Walmart. Complain about the very things they post here in the stats about it. The amount of energy they use, the pollution they cause, the lack of rights for their employees (or associates as they are called in this one), the quality of their products, the predatory practices of their pricing … the list goes on and on. Yet, a strange thing also happens along the way of all this complaining. They (the stores like these) rise to be the worlds leading retailers. Despite the fact they seem to be the stores everyone loves to hate, they are the ones everyone (perhaps secretly?) goes to. Now I live in a country that actually has no Walmart… Yes, seriously… but we do have our box stores here. In fact, here we have the box store that overtook Walmart as the number one retailer in the world (yes that is right, Walmart is no longer the biggest)… Carrefour now is (for all those in the United States whom may not know I am not aware if they are in that country yet, that is a French box store al-la Walmart style). I have only been in a Walmart three times in my life, and I will admit, like Carrefour, (and Tesco… not to leave the British out of the fray), some of their prices leave you so enticed you can’t help but leave with a bag full of goodies, but then, if you really believe what you say, and you complain about these types of stores, then it seems you should put your money where your mouth is and either step up… of shut up. Harsh, I know, but to me, box stores and their reputations amid the populace are like politicians and their popularity. They get into office, but it seems (if you talk to people after a few months), no one voted for them. People complain over and over and over about these stores, but yet they are leading the economic steam engine of retail. Humans have this strange way of being able to talk out the side of their mouths on many things. They lambaste and ridicule on one hand, but when it comes down to it and they see they can save a few dollars (to buy even MORE things), then off they go, forgetting that every dollar they plop down is speaking not just about that one item they have purchased but ripples through the entire fabric of not only their economy and society but the world over, simply because it is repeated millions and millions of times. Yes, despite what people may think, one person can make a difference. Reality check. Stores like this sell things so low because they cut corners, produce in countries with fewer regulations, workers rights, need to pay as much etc. That is how they make money for their companies, their shareholders, and that is how YOU can buy things so cheap… and buy more!! So when I hear people complain about how all the “jobs have gone overseas” and how other countries are “stealing all our jobs”, I can’t help but scratch my head and ask… “Oh is that a Walmart bag I see in the corner?” The paradox of human behaviour knows no bounds.
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Good Intention Photos that Make Me Think… Well Wait a Minute:

Part Fourteen:

You Are What You Consume…

I often hear people complain about stores such as Walmart. Complain about the very things they post here in the stats about it. The amount of energy they use, the pollution they cause, the lack of rights for their employees (or associates as they are called in this one), the quality of their products, the predatory practices of their pricing … the list goes on and on.

Yet, a strange thing also happens along the way of all this complaining. They (the stores like these) rise to be the worlds leading retailers. Despite the fact they seem to be the stores everyone loves to hate, they are the ones everyone (perhaps secretly?) goes to.

Now I live in a country that actually has no Walmart… Yes, seriously… but we do have our box stores here. In fact, here we have the box store that overtook Walmart as the number one retailer in the world (yes that is right, Walmart is no longer the biggest)… Carrefour now is (for all those in the United States whom may not know I am not aware if they are in that country yet, that is a French box store al-la Walmart style). I have only been in a Walmart three times in my life, and I will admit, like Carrefour, (and Tesco… not to leave the British out of the fray), some of their prices leave you so enticed you can’t help but leave with a bag full of goodies, but then, if you really believe what you say, and you complain about these types of stores, then it seems you should put your money where your mouth is and either step up… of shut up. Harsh, I know, but to me, box stores and their reputations amid the populace are like politicians and their popularity. They get into office, but it seems (if you talk to people after a few months), no one voted for them. People complain over and over and over about these stores, but yet they are leading the economic steam engine of retail.

Humans have this strange way of being able to talk out the side of their mouths on many things. They lambaste and ridicule on one hand, but when it comes down to it and they see they can save a few dollars (to buy even MORE things), then off they go, forgetting that every dollar they plop down is speaking not just about that one item they have purchased but ripples through the entire fabric of not only their economy and society but the world over, simply because it is repeated millions and millions of times. Yes, despite what people may think, one person can make a difference.

Reality check. Stores like this sell things so low because they cut corners, produce in countries with fewer regulations, workers rights, need to pay as much etc. That is how they make money for their companies, their shareholders, and that is how YOU can buy things so cheap… and buy more!!

So when I hear people complain about how all the “jobs have gone overseas” and how other countries are “stealing all our jobs”, I can’t help but scratch my head and ask… “Oh is that a Walmart bag I see in the corner?”

The paradox of human behaviour knows no bounds.

The first product only available from the Zen Shopping Channel…
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The first product only available from the Zen Shopping Channel…

Deconstruction of a Love Poem 101
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Deconstruction of a Love Poem 101

What Is In A Word: Part Twenty-Seven Silence (speaks Volumes). Imagine one day you decided it was time to get really silent. And so, you sit in silence and you become desperately, utterly and profoundly honest with yourself. To your surprise, you find yourself uttering the real truths, often ones that you would not (in the noise of the rest of your day) perhaps even fathom as being open to you. You find yourself breaking free. You let go of the dogma that has been ground into you, from your culture, your leaders, your politics, your religious ideas and thoughts. You see that in that moment of silence, you feel fear, but it is suddenly and quickly replaced by the happiness of real honesty. Not the honesty that you have been taught, not the ones you have read, but the ones that really resonate with our species, no matter what anyone (or anything) else may say. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery to the origins of that. (Where that source came from may still be clouded, but that too is something that we will discover in the silence). We are all part of creation, all kings, poets, musicians, leaders (in our own right). We all have the essence of our species inside us. Whether you want to admit it or not. You step back for a moment when you think of some of our species as it frightens you a bit to think that they (whatever THEY are) may be part of you. But again, you see truth and understand that seeing them in you is the best way to see anything about them… or yourself… at all. And all of this comes from the silence (of truth). Often in this life, it seems those that speak the loudest, that demand the most attention, are the ones that have very little (or nothing) to say at all. They are the ones that are seeking the greatest, the most scared, most misunderstanding… and the ones that still have not found the truth in the silence of real understanding. Most of the greatest discoveries of our lives have gone on in the silence of the mind. Not in the boisterous regions of the populace crowds, in the rallies and the shouting and the fights. These are the products (for and against) of the actions that came from the silence. So why, more often than not are we as a species afraid of the silence and try as hard as we might to avoid it? Could it be that in silence we know we will think things we don’t want to, don’t understand or are not ready to really look at? What is it we are afraid of when the noise has ceased all around us? Is the silence we are afraid of the silence of… self? Are we afraid that perhaps if we have this silence we will see how little we actually know and how much we need to learn? Silence seems to equal (for many) … being alone. And being alone is something humans don’t do very well. People will often say they need … quiet. Just some time to relax and to get away from it all. But then they may turn on some music, the television, surf the net. They grab a book and read, a magazine and the like. All of those things are things that we see as… being quiet. But they are not … silence… they are distractions from it. Silence is the time when you are just alone with your thoughts. It is the time when you can confide in yourself about your hope, dreams and fears. Silence is a time when you can really open yourself up to thinking and seeing. It is an activity we as a species don’t really take time for because like so many other things in our existence, we are not really sure how to go about doing that, and we are scared of what we may think or feel in the silence. We are scared it may bring up thoughts we don’t understand. Human beings seem to have this knack for never confiding (not really) in those that they see as superior/better than themselves. They will (perhaps) hang out, they will laugh, have a drink or two, share some stories about life, but it is only on those rare occasions one whom you see as “better”, an intellectual superior (or superior in some other grandeur way) gets your real confidence. If we cannot do it with others, how can we do it with ourselves? Our existence is littered with distractions; Things that keep us from having to see or deal with the silence too much. People will go out of their way to avoid it, or in their silence they do things to “deal” with it. They drink, take a substance or they say they will meditate… all in the hopes of “clearing their minds” This clearing too me is more an avoidance of the silence and an admission of being scared. Buddhists often talk of this clearing and while I do understand it, I often wonder what it is they are trying to avoid in their clearing. (Maybe their clearing is the way to true equality in silence, and I am just not at a place to see it yet). Sometimes I think that people don’t want us to be silent, for if we were silent for too long we may change our thinking about some things, and that would certainly bring about changes in ideas and thoughts that scare some whom are not ready for their own silence, and not ready to admit or see things about our existence that they don’t really understand. The belief that one’s own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions. It becomes still more dangerous if it is coupled with the missionary-like zeal to enlighten the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world wishes to be enlightened or not. Now one could say that about what I write here today, and in many ways I could never argue against that because even if I say I am not, expressing my views of things logically shows the opposite. It is a strange predicament we live in as a species. Trying to balance the idea of self and respect for others and understanding that everything is not as we would want it to be. Even if all possible scientific questions were to be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all simply because the ultimate paradox of our existence is that we are the subject AND the object of our quest. This is why I think it is so hard for us to have silence. Our quest for an understanding of the meaning of our existence is an attempt at the formalization of life. Be it science, religion, philosophy, whatever it is. But formalization is just another form of avoidance of the silence. Not a bad thing, but an avoidance all the same. As with all things in life, order and chaos are not objective, they are determined by the observer. Humans spend so much “time” deluding themselves into believing that time is more than what it really is. Time is merely a dimension of the human mind, a necessary delusion of consciousness, a way to understand the “past” “present”, “future”… another avoidance of silence. There is this concept we have come up with, it is called the pathogenic secret. Simply stated, it is the term used to describe that deep down memory, that “shameful”, “distressful” festering thought that you (all of us) keeps hidden deep inside. In a moment of true silence, those are the type of thoughts that may (most often will) surface, and those are the ones we fear the most. It has been said you are only as sick as your deepest secrets, so the question may be, Are the secrets we all have keeping us from hearing the silence? Or is it all just about the control? Control is what we all want in life, in all aspects of our being, but sometimes what we don’t understand (or are scared to see) is that we cannot really control a great deal of what happens. More it seems we need to accept our chaos, cope with it, learn from it and gently seek to moderate the ebb and flow of it in ways to maintain not only our safety and awareness, but that of all our fellow creatures. Accepting those things that happen around you, maintaining safety, sanity and personal integrity, pausing to examine assumptions of how things “should be” and what we do/are able to do to make them that way and learning from all experiences in life may help us let go of this control, and be more comfortable with the silence (we fear). In the words of Karl Jung “our hearts glow, our secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with this (unconscious) has become a question of life for us” The questions continue… unabated… in the silence.
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What Is In A Word: Part Twenty-Seven

Silence (speaks Volumes).

Imagine one day you decided it was time to get really silent. And so, you sit in silence and you become desperately, utterly and profoundly honest with yourself. To your surprise, you find yourself uttering the real truths, often ones that you would not (in the noise of the rest of your day) perhaps even fathom as being open to you. You find yourself breaking free. You let go of the dogma that has been ground into you, from your culture, your leaders, your politics, your religious ideas and thoughts. You see that in that moment of silence, you feel fear, but it is suddenly and quickly replaced by the happiness of real honesty. Not the honesty that you have been taught, not the ones you have read, but the ones that really resonate with our species, no matter what anyone (or anything) else may say.

We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery to the origins of that. (Where that source came from may still be clouded, but that too is something that we will discover in the silence). We are all part of creation, all kings, poets, musicians, leaders (in our own right). We all have the essence of our species inside us. Whether you want to admit it or not.

You step back for a moment when you think of some of our species as it frightens you a bit to think that they (whatever THEY are) may be part of you. But again, you see truth and understand that seeing them in you is the best way to see anything about them… or yourself… at all.

And all of this comes from the silence (of truth).

Often in this life, it seems those that speak the loudest, that demand the most attention, are the ones that have very little (or nothing) to say at all. They are the ones that are seeking the greatest, the most scared, most misunderstanding… and the ones that still have not found the truth in the silence of real understanding.

Most of the greatest discoveries of our lives have gone on in the silence of the mind. Not in the boisterous regions of the populace crowds, in the rallies and the shouting and the fights. These are the products (for and against) of the actions that came from the silence.

So why, more often than not are we as a species afraid of the silence and try as hard as we might to avoid it? Could it be that in silence we know we will think things we don’t want to, don’t understand or are not ready to really look at? What is it we are afraid of when the noise has ceased all around us? Is the silence we are afraid of the silence of… self? Are we afraid that perhaps if we have this silence we will see how little we actually know and how much we need to learn? Silence seems to equal (for many) … being alone. And being alone is something humans don’t do very well.

People will often say they need … quiet. Just some time to relax and to get away from it all. But then they may turn on some music, the television, surf the net. They grab a book and read, a magazine and the like. All of those things are things that we see as… being quiet. But they are not … silence… they are distractions from it.

Silence is the time when you are just alone with your thoughts. It is the time when you can confide in yourself about your hope, dreams and fears. Silence is a time when you can really open yourself up to thinking and seeing.

It is an activity we as a species don’t really take time for because like so many other things in our existence, we are not really sure how to go about doing that, and we are scared of what we may think or feel in the silence. We are scared it may bring up thoughts we don’t understand.

Human beings seem to have this knack for never confiding (not really) in those that they see as superior/better than themselves. They will (perhaps) hang out, they will laugh, have a drink or two, share some stories about life, but it is only on those rare occasions one whom you see as “better”, an intellectual superior (or superior in some other grandeur way) gets your real confidence. If we cannot do it with others, how can we do it with ourselves?

Our existence is littered with distractions; Things that keep us from having to see or deal with the silence too much. People will go out of their way to avoid it, or in their silence they do things to “deal” with it. They drink, take a substance or they say they will meditate… all in the hopes of “clearing their minds” This clearing too me is more an avoidance of the silence and an admission of being scared. Buddhists often talk of this clearing and while I do understand it, I often wonder what it is they are trying to avoid in their clearing. (Maybe their clearing is the way to true equality in silence, and I am just not at a place to see it yet).

Sometimes I think that people don’t want us to be silent, for if we were silent for too long we may change our thinking about some things, and that would certainly bring about changes in ideas and thoughts that scare some whom are not ready for their own silence, and not ready to admit or see things about our existence that they don’t really understand.

The belief that one’s own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions. It becomes still more dangerous if it is coupled with the missionary-like zeal to enlighten the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world wishes to be enlightened or not. Now one could say that about what I write here today, and in many ways I could never argue against that because even if I say I am not, expressing my views of things logically shows the opposite. It is a strange predicament we live in as a species. Trying to balance the idea of self and respect for others and understanding that everything is not as we would want it to be.

Even if all possible scientific questions were to be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all simply because the ultimate paradox of our existence is that we are the subject AND the object of our quest. This is why I think it is so hard for us to have silence. Our quest for an understanding of the meaning of our existence is an attempt at the formalization of life. Be it science, religion, philosophy, whatever it is. But formalization is just another form of avoidance of the silence. Not a bad thing, but an avoidance all the same.

As with all things in life, order and chaos are not objective, they are determined by the observer. Humans spend so much “time” deluding themselves into believing that time is more than what it really is. Time is merely a dimension of the human mind, a necessary delusion of consciousness, a way to understand the “past” “present”, “future”… another avoidance of silence.

There is this concept we have come up with, it is called the pathogenic secret. Simply stated, it is the term used to describe that deep down memory, that “shameful”, “distressful” festering thought that you (all of us) keeps hidden deep inside. In a moment of true silence, those are the type of thoughts that may (most often will) surface, and those are the ones we fear the most.

It has been said you are only as sick as your deepest secrets, so the question may be, Are the secrets we all have keeping us from hearing the silence? Or is it all just about the control?

Control is what we all want in life, in all aspects of our being, but sometimes what we don’t understand (or are scared to see) is that we cannot really control a great deal of what happens. More it seems we need to accept our chaos, cope with it, learn from it and gently seek to moderate the ebb and flow of it in ways to maintain not only our safety and awareness, but that of all our fellow creatures.

Accepting those things that happen around you, maintaining safety, sanity and personal integrity, pausing to examine assumptions of how things “should be” and what we do/are able to do to make them that way and learning from all experiences in life may help us let go of this control, and be more comfortable with the silence (we fear).

In the words of Karl Jung “our hearts glow, our secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with this (unconscious) has become a question of life for us”

The questions continue… unabated… in the silence.

” Greener Grass” Does not always mean its all about “The Green” You will often hear the saying in life…”the grass is greener on the on the other side” …but is it really? It comes as no surprise that this saying is often heard the most in cultures where the grass is already greener, at least in a relative view of the world. Persons whom don’t have much (or nothing at all), don’t seem to complain as much (perhaps they are too busy just getting on with trying to carve out a life with the meager things that they have) Those that have and want more, seem to do a whole lot more complaining (perhaps it has something to do with the crazy human tendency of desire. You know, once you have more, then the cycle just continues and you begin to want even more and more) Take a culture like South Korea for example. It may be one of the fastest raising economies in the world and one of the wealthiest, but it also (now) has the second highest suicide rate in the world (due to all the pressure on its population because of such a dramatic increase in is wealth in such a short time…. The pressure to keep that pace is hard on its population). Or what about a country like Cuba? Seen by many countries as one that is run by a ruthless dictator, who limits rights and ownership of the people there, Cuba now ranks in the top ten in terms of the happy country index in the world. Or what of the United States, a country that holds itself out as a beacon to the world yet ranks far down the list on things like literacy rates and rich/poor wealth ratio gap. It seems to me, in many instances, “the grass will always seem greener” until you get there. Once you are there, you may be surprised to see that the greener grass has its own set of problems and this grass is relative in terms of what we as a society has set up/ see to mean “greener” Having the biggest house, the fastest cars and the most adult toys does not mean it is greener. In fact, if we look at the world today, usually that means (at least at the present time), your economy is one of the worst, and the amount of people in your country whose “greener grass” is turning brown, is growing at an alarming rate. So the next time you think about that other side, think carefully before you move, and understand that material things are not the only gauge of … a better tomorrow.
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” Greener Grass” Does not always mean its all about “The Green”

You will often hear the saying in life…”the grass is greener on the on the other side”
…but is it really?

It comes as no surprise that this saying is often heard the most in cultures where the grass is already greener, at least in a relative view of the world. Persons whom don’t have much (or nothing at all), don’t seem to complain as much (perhaps they are too busy just getting on with trying to carve out a life with the meager things that they have)

Those that have and want more, seem to do a whole lot more complaining (perhaps it has something to do with the crazy human tendency of desire. You know, once you have more, then the cycle just continues and you begin to want even more and more)

Take a culture like South Korea for example. It may be one of the fastest raising economies in the world and one of the wealthiest, but it also (now) has the second highest suicide rate in the world (due to all the pressure on its population because of such a dramatic increase in is wealth in such a short time…. The pressure to keep that pace is hard on its population). Or what about a country like Cuba? Seen by many countries as one that is run by a ruthless dictator, who limits rights and ownership of the people there, Cuba now ranks in the top ten in terms of the happy country index in the world. Or what of the United States, a country that holds itself out as a beacon to the world yet ranks far down the list on things like literacy rates and rich/poor wealth ratio gap.

It seems to me, in many instances, “the grass will always seem greener” until you get there. Once you are there, you may be surprised to see that the greener grass has its own set of problems and this grass is relative in terms of what we as a society has set up/ see to mean “greener”

Having the biggest house, the fastest cars and the most adult toys does not mean it is greener. In fact, if we look at the world today, usually that means (at least at the present time), your economy is one of the worst, and the amount of people in your country whose “greener grass” is turning brown, is growing at an alarming rate.

So the next time you think about that other side, think carefully before you move, and understand that material things are not the only gauge of … a better tomorrow.

Humans constantly talk of this idea of a balance… a need to feel centred and secure. But in doing so, it seems more often than not we forget what balance really is and only seek out what we see as the… pleasures, and what we often forget is that in order to have one we need to have the other. One can never really experience one side of something until they know of, have experienced or understand in some way the other. Lets take the ideas of sadness and depth as examples. Happiness is what we strive for, sadness is what we try to avoid. But how do we even understand the difference between the two? Because we have experienced both. In life it seems that sadness give us depth (or understanding), happiness gives us height (of that awareness). Sadness gives roots, a foundation to build and grow from. Happiness gives us branches, to stretch and grow from the sad place Happiness is like a tree reaching for the sky. Sadness is like the roots, seeping down into the womb of the earth (and our being). And like with a tree, both are needed (the happiness/branches and sadness/roots), for as one goes higher, the other goes deeper (and visa versa), simultaneously. The bigger the tree, the bigger the roots In fact it is always proportion. That is what is call… its balance.
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Humans constantly talk of this idea of a balance… a need to feel centred and secure.

But in doing so, it seems more often than not we forget what balance really is and only seek out what we see as the… pleasures, and what we often forget is that in order to have one we need to have the other. One can never really experience one side of something until they know of, have experienced or understand in some way the other.

Lets take the ideas of sadness and depth as examples.

Happiness is what we strive for, sadness is what we try to avoid. But how do we even understand the difference between the two? Because we have experienced both.

In life it seems that sadness give us depth (or understanding), happiness gives us height (of that awareness).

Sadness gives roots, a foundation to build and grow from. Happiness gives us branches, to stretch and grow from the sad place

Happiness is like a tree reaching for the sky. Sadness is like the roots, seeping down into the womb of the earth (and our being).

And like with a tree, both are needed (the happiness/branches and sadness/roots), for as one goes higher, the other goes deeper (and visa versa), simultaneously.

The bigger the tree, the bigger the roots

In fact it is always proportion.

That is what is call… its balance.

The (Word) Games People Play
Or
Thou Shall Not Commit Logical Fallacies (In easy to remember symbols)

Part Two:

Bandwagon: You appeal to popularity or the fact that many people do something as a form of validation. The flaw in this argument seems to be that the popularity of an idea has absolutely no bearing on its validity.

Composition/Division: You assume that one part of something has to be applied to all, or other parts of (whatever) it (is). Often when something is true for the part it does also apply to the whole, but the crucial difference is whether there exists good evidence to show that this is the case. Because we observe consistencies in things, our thinking can become biased so that we presume consistency to exist where it does not.

Black-or-White: You present alternative states (to something) as the only possibilities, when in fact more (often than not always) exist. Also known as the false dilemma, this insidious tactic has the appearance of forming a logical argument, but under closer scrutiny it becomes evident that there are more possibilities than the either/or choice that is presented. Binary, black-or-white thinking doesn’t allow for the many different variables, conditions, and contexts in which there would exist more than just the two possibilities put forth. It frames the argument misleadingly and obscures rational, honest debate. Black and white is how most humans see the world in general at any given time.

Begging The Question: You present a circular argument in which the conclusion was included in the premise. This logically incoherent argument often arises in situations where people have an assumption that is very ingrained, and therefore taken in their minds as a given, so they include the conclusion (their own idea) in the premise (question) as it just seems… logical… to do so.