Creativity is Unusual Stuff: It frightens… It deranges… It is subversive… It mistrusts what it sees, what it hears. It dares (and cares) to doubt… It acts (even if it errs)… It infiltrates perponcieved notions… It rattes established certitudes…. It incessantly invents new ways, new vocabularies… It provokes and changes points of view.
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Creativity is Unusual Stuff:

It frightens…
It deranges…
It is subversive…
It mistrusts what it sees, what it hears.
It dares (and cares) to doubt…
It acts (even if it errs)…
It infiltrates perponcieved notions…
It rattes established certitudes….
It incessantly invents new ways, new vocabularies…
It provokes and changes points of view.

Humans Vs. The Environment: The Easter Island Effect:

Long long ago on a small little island in the far away southern Pacific Ocean there was a culture that lived on a place called Easter Island. The natives of Easter Island chopped down all their trees to build ever-larger monuments to themselves and their granduer. But what they failed to see beyond their own sea of self arrogance, was in doing so they destroyed their entire ecosystem and so soon perished, never to be heard from again.

The entire human civilization is now pulling an Easter Island on a global scale.

There seems to be a battle brewing, one of what is really to blame for all of the woes of our planet (excluding the fact that there are those whom see nothing wrong in the first place).

Overpopulation
Over consumption

The former states basically that due to the pure numbers of our species, damage is laid upon our planet as we need more of everything to survive. Proponents of this idea of thought believe human activity is responsible for much of the damage, and that a reduction in population would automatically result in both less ongoing damage and a greater opportunity for the Earth’s systems to heal themselves. In short, drop the religious thoughts and male oriented thinking of being dominant and stop having so many babies.

The latter say the problem lay not in the amount of people on the planet but in our consumption habits. They point to the relative consumption patterns of industrialized and developing nations (where for example an American consumes 30 times as much of the world’s resources as a person from Bangladesh), and so their thoughts on this matter lay in the idea that restraint in consumption trumps restraint in population growth. In short stop buying shit you don’t really need.

No matter what side of the fence you may rest on, overpopulation, over consumption or perhaps a combination of the two, one thing is for sure taking place, and deny it as much as one wants, all evidence points to this fact: We are (as a species) in overshoot.

A species is said to be in overshoot if the resource requirements of its population exceed the carrying capacity of its environment — in other words, its needs exceed the ability of its environment to supply those needs sustainably over the long term. Humanity is already in overshoot, (estimates range by at least 25% and perhaps by as much as 100% or more).

A reduction in population would help to redress the balance. It would reduce the pressure on the planetary ecosystems we depend on and give them a chance to recover. Unfortunately, as we can all see at the present time, there is no sign that our population will stabilize within the next 40 years, let alone start to decline. As a result, the ecological changes we are inflicting on the planet we need for our survival logically will most likely increase as the years go by. For a species that is already in overshoot, this is a very ominous prediction. As we run into resource limits such as Peak Oil, the underlying damage we have done will assume ever greater importance as our degradation of the world’s carrying capacity is progressively revealed and the damages and changes we see now will only be multiplied as time marches on.

So what is our species to do?

It seems the first logical step is to understand that there is a problem in the first place. The time for people to ignore what is happening has passed us by. No religious belief, no ideas of the domination of our species, no thoughts of our inherent right to succeed in our free market consumption free for all can mask the fact that the planet (in many ways) is dying… and as the planet goes, so does our species.

The population of the world will eventually begin to recede, but we don’t have the luxury of waiting for that time to happen. Consumption patterns of us all needs to be address and readdressed on an individual basis. Waiting for governments to lead will never work.

The earth’s resources are limited.
All persons whom ever existed have and do consume some part of these limited resources.
Humans are altering the environment
Humans like to have babies

Governments have never made laws and changes. The general population has. Nothing comes from a government that does not start from the people (be it one, one hundred or one hundred million)

Try not to forget that the next time you think… I am only one person, what can I do?

Like a Child being taught a lesson, know when to say enough is enough… The G-20’s decision in November of 2008 not to let any systemically relevant bank perish may have seemed wise at the time, given the threat of a global financial meltdown. But that decision and bad policies by central banks and governments since then, has given over-indebted major banks the power to blackmail their rescuers – a power that they have used to create a financial system in which they are effectively exempt from liability. Big banks’ ability to extort such an arrangement stems from an implicit threat: the financial sector – and with it the economy’s payment system – would collapse if a systemically important bank were ever pushed into insolvency. But it is time to call the bankers’ bluff: maintaining the payment system can and should be separated from the problem of bank insolvency. Above all, the G-20’s decision to prop up systemically relevant banks must be revisited, and governments must respond to the banks’ threats by declaring their willingness to let insolvent banks be judged accordingly. A market economy (as so many countries tout their systems to now be) must rest on the economic principle of profit and loss. This is not about whether this type of system is right for our species… or in fact even really works… this is about facing up to the realities of what we have today and understanding what we need to do. An economy with neither bankruptcies nor a rule of law that applies equally to all is no market economy. The law that is valid for all other companies should apply to banks as well.
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Like a Child being taught a lesson, know when to say enough is enough…

The G-20’s decision in November of 2008 not to let any systemically relevant bank perish may have seemed wise at the time, given the threat of a global financial meltdown. But that decision and bad policies by central banks and governments since then, has given over-indebted major banks the power to blackmail their rescuers – a power that they have used to create a financial system in which they are effectively exempt from liability.

Big banks’ ability to extort such an arrangement stems from an implicit threat: the financial sector – and with it the economy’s payment system – would collapse if a systemically important bank were ever pushed into insolvency.

But it is time to call the bankers’ bluff: maintaining the payment system can and should be separated from the problem of bank insolvency.

Above all, the G-20’s decision to prop up systemically relevant banks must be revisited, and governments must respond to the banks’ threats by declaring their willingness to let insolvent banks be judged accordingly.

A market economy (as so many countries tout their systems to now be) must rest on the economic principle of profit and loss. This is not about whether this type of system is right for our species… or in fact even really works… this is about facing up to the realities of what we have today and understanding what we need to do.

An economy with neither bankruptcies nor a rule of law that applies equally to all is no market economy. The law that is valid for all other companies should apply to banks as well.

Half empty? Half Full? Pessimist? Optimist? Let’s ask a person of Physics

Traditionally, the optimist sees the glass as half full while the pessimist sees it as half empty. But what if the empty half of the glass were actually empty—a vacuum? (Even a vacuum arguably isn’t truly empty, but that’s a question for quantum semantics.)
The vacuum would definitely not last long. But exactly what happens depends on a key question that nobody usually bothers to ask: Which half is empty?
For our scenario, we’ll imagine three different half-empty glasses, and follow what happens to them microsecond by microsecond (well not really but in a sense)

In the middle is the traditional air/water glass. On the right is a glass like the traditional one, except the air is replaced by a vacuum. The glass on the left is half full of water and half empty—but it’s the bottom half that’s empty.
We’ll imagine the vacuums appear at time t=0.
For the first handful of microseconds, nothing happens. On this timescale, even the air molecules are nearly stationary. For the most part, air molecules jiggle around at speeds of a few hundred meters per second. But at any given time, some happen to be moving faster than others. The fastest few are moving at over 1000 meters per second. These are the first to drift into the vacuum in the glass on the right.
The vacuum on the left is surrounded by barriers, so air molecules can’t easily get in. The water, being a liquid, doesn’t expand to fill the vacuum in the same way air does. However, in the vacuum of the glasses, it does start to boil, slowly shedding water vapor into the empty space

While the water on the surface in both glasses starts to boil away, in the glass on the right, the air rushing in stops it before it really gets going. The glass on the left continues to fill with a very faint mist of water vapor.

After a few hundred microseconds, the air rushing into the glass on the right fills the vacuum completely and rams into the surface of the water, sending a pressure wave through the liquid. The sides of the glass bulge slightly, but they contain the pressure and do not break. A shockwave reverberates through the water and back into the air, joining the turbulence already there

The shockwave from the vacuum collapse takes about a millisecond to spread out through the other two glasses. The glass and water both flex slightly as the wave passes through them. In a few more milliseconds, it reaches the humans’ ears as a loud bang. Around this time, the glass on the left starts to visibly lift into the air.
The air pressure is trying to squeeze the glass and water together. This is the force we think of as suction. The vacuum on the right didn’t last long enough for the suction to lift the glass, but since air can’t get into the vacuum on the left, the glass and the water begin to slide toward each other. The boiling water has filled the vacuum with a very small amount of water vapor. As the space gets smaller, the buildup of water vapor slowly increases the pressure on the water’s surface. Eventually, this will slow the boiling, just like higher air pressure would. However, the glass and water are now moving too fast for the vapor buildup to matter. Less than ten milliseconds after the clock started, they’re flying toward each other at several meters per second. Without a cushion of air between them—only a few wisps of vapor—the water smacks into the bottom of the glass like a hammer.

Water is very nearly incompressible, so the impact isn’t spread out—it comes as a single sharp shock. The momentary force on the glass is immense, and it breaks.
When the bottle is struck, it’s pushed suddenly downward. The liquid inside doesn’t respond to the suction (air pressure) right away—much like in our scenario—and a gap briefly opens up. It’s a small vacuum—a few fractions of an inch thick—but when it closes, the shock breaks the bottom of the bottle.
In our situation, the forces would be more than enough to destroy even the heaviest drinking glasses. The bottom is carried downward by the water and thunks against the table. The water splashes around it, spraying droplets and glass shards in all directions. Meanwhile, the detached upper portion of the glass continues to rise

After half a second, the observers, hearing a pop, have begun to flinch. Their heads lift involuntarily to follow the rising movement of the glass. The glass has just enough speed to bang against the ceiling, breaking into fragments…

The glass has just enough speed to bang against the ceiling, breaking into fragments…
which, their momentum now spent, return to the table

And so my dear half empty/half full thinkers… the lesson of this little tale? : If the optimist says the glass is half full, and the pessimist says the glass is half empty, the physicist ducks

And now for a few words… (Part one)…on the idea of freedom I know of but one freedom… and that is freedom of (ones) own mind. People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use Freedom is a package deal - with it comes responsibilities and consequences Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves Humanity is free at the moment it wishes to be Humans fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves Liberty means responsibility. That is why most humans dread it Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err Freedom is an illusion. A state of mind that created by a species that has this thing we call reason. As such we automatically think we are better than others, not just the animals, but those around us. Not as good looking, as smart, as successful, as rich. Our freedom has cost us connection. We say we fight for freedom, yes, but we most often mean we fight for our idea of what that means. Is that wrong? Is that right? That is for you to decide. The moment one thinks about their idea of free… another is repressed…. and the cycle continues.
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And now for a few words… (Part one)
…on the idea of freedom

I know of but one freedom… and that is freedom of (ones) own mind.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use

Freedom is a package deal - with it comes responsibilities and consequences

Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion

Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves

Humanity is free at the moment it wishes to be

Humans fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most humans dread it

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err


Freedom is an illusion. A state of mind that created by a species that has this thing we call reason. As such we automatically think we are better than others, not just the animals, but those around us. Not as good looking, as smart, as successful, as rich. Our freedom has cost us connection. We say we fight for freedom, yes, but we most often mean we fight for our idea of what that means. Is that wrong? Is that right? That is for you to decide.

The moment one thinks about their idea of free… another is repressed…. and the cycle continues.

You Say Potato, I say… (part seven)
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You Say Potato, I say… (part seven)

Beliefs, Models, Analogies: Part Five “On the question of Metaphysics” Time was, when she (Metaphysics) was the queen of all the sciences; and, if we take the will for the deed, she certainly deserves, so far as regards the high importance of her object-matter, this title of honor. Now, it is the fashion of the time to heap contempt and scorn upon her; and the matron mourns, forlorn and forsaken, …. her empire gradually broke up, and intestine wars introduced the reign of anarchy; while the skeptics, like nomadic tribes, who hate a permanent habitation and settled mode of living, attacked from time to time those who had organized themselves into civil communities. But their number was, very happily, small; and thus they could not entirely put a stop to the exertions of those who persisted in raising new edifices, although on no settled or uniform plan. This can never become popular, and, indeed, has no occasion to be so; for fine-spun arguments in favour of useful truths make just as little impression on the public mind as the equally subtle objections brought against these truths. On the other hand, since both inevitably force themselves on every man who rises to the height of speculation, it becomes the manifest duty of the schools to enter upon a thorough investigation of the rights of speculative reason, and thus to prevent the scandal which metaphysical controversies are sure, sooner or later, to cause even to the masses. -Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason,
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Beliefs, Models, Analogies: Part Five

“On the question of Metaphysics”

Time was, when she (Metaphysics) was the queen of all the sciences; and, if we take the will for the deed, she certainly deserves, so far as regards the high importance of her object-matter, this title of honor. Now, it is the fashion of the time to heap contempt and scorn upon her; and the matron mourns, forlorn and forsaken, …. her empire gradually broke up, and intestine wars introduced the reign of anarchy; while the skeptics, like nomadic tribes, who hate a permanent habitation and settled mode of living, attacked from time to time those who had organized themselves into civil communities. But their number was, very happily, small; and thus they could not entirely put a stop to the exertions of those who persisted in raising new edifices, although on no settled or uniform plan.

This can never become popular, and, indeed, has no occasion to be so; for fine-spun arguments in favour of useful truths make just as little impression on the public mind as the equally subtle objections brought against these truths. On the other hand, since both inevitably force themselves on every man who rises to the height of speculation, it becomes the manifest duty of the schools to enter upon a thorough investigation of the rights of speculative reason, and thus to prevent the scandal which metaphysical controversies are sure, sooner or later, to cause even to the masses.

-Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason,

What is In A Word: Part Thirty-Four Double Meanings/ Pronunciations: Learning a language can be difficult at the best of times. Understanding words does not necessarily mean one understands the culture it comes from and when the words have more than one meaning and one sound, the learning process becomes even that much more complicated (Mandarin Chinese for example has five different tones, so saying a word in the wrong tone would change completely what one is saying). Here are a few examples of such cases in the English language. Try some of these on for size. -The bandage was wound around the wound -The farm was used to produce, produce. -The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse. -We must polish the Polish furniture. -He could lead if he would get the lead out. -The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. -Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present to his loved one. -A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. -When shot at, the dove, dove into the bushes. -I did not object to the object before me. -The insurance was invalid for the invalid. -There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row the boat. -They were too close to the door to close it. -The buck does certain things when does are present…. All in the attempt to be noticed.
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What is In A Word: Part Thirty-Four

Double Meanings/ Pronunciations:

Learning a language can be difficult at the best of times. Understanding words does not necessarily mean one understands the culture it comes from and when the words have more than one meaning and one sound, the learning process becomes even that much more complicated (Mandarin Chinese for example has five different tones, so saying a word in the wrong tone would change completely what one is saying).

Here are a few examples of such cases in the English language. Try some of these on for size.

-The bandage was wound around the wound

-The farm was used to produce, produce.

-The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse.

-We must polish the Polish furniture.

-He could lead if he would get the lead out.

-The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

-Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present to his loved
one.

-A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

-When shot at, the dove, dove into the bushes.

-I did not object to the object before me.

-The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

-There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row the boat.

-They were too close to the door to close it.

-The buck does certain things when does are present…. All in the attempt to be noticed.

A Zombie Nation….(bath salts not included) Television viewing the world over is at an all-time high if one includes the following “three screens”: a television set, a laptop/personal computer, and a cell phone. British and American children now average eight hours a day on TV, video games, movies, the Internet, cell phones, iPods, and other technologies (not including school-related use)… the highest of any nation. (nielson studies have shown). While many have become concerned over the years about the concentrated control of content by the corporate media, and “infotainmentation” and social media aspects that have crept into reporting, causing it in some aspects to be less hard hitting, more bipartisan and quick to cede to talking heads on many things is also an alarming trend. It is important to remember that, it is but the mere act of watching TV—regardless of the programming that is the primary pacifying agent ( Take for example private-enterprise prisons. They have recognized that providing inmates with cable television can be a more economical method to keep them quiet and subdued than it would be to hire more guards). Television is a dream come true for an authoritarian society: those with the most money own most of what people see, hear (and ultimately think) Fear-based television programming makes people more afraid and distrustful of one another, which is good for the ruling elite who depend on a “divide and conquer” strategy in many ways in order to keep what it is they already have. TV isolates people so they are not joining together to create resistance to authorities; and regardless of the programming, TV viewers’ brainwaves slow down, transforming them closer to a hypnotic state that makes it difficult to think critically. While playing video games is not as zombifying as passively viewing TV, such games have become for many boys and young men their only experience of potency, and this “virtual potency” is certainly no threat to the ruling elite. Indeed in some ways, when it comes to things such as war, the general population is becoming less and less connected to the whole idea of war. It is being fought somewhere out there, on my television screen (and brought to me just like a video game), by someone else. The connection one use to feel to such a thing (especially in many western nations), only hits home if someone whom the family knows comes home in a box. Otherwise, it is something we see on television. Television can offer us many things and it does have the ability to inform, entertain and expand our thinking. The problem is that this type of high quality, in-depth and deep seeded thinking television does not often play well with the bottom line of the large companies that now control more and more and more of an ever shrinking pie of companies. Nor does it grab and hold the attention of a population with more and more choices, and less and less (seeming) desire to take the time to sit and… think. The proliferation of our species through the massive amounts of information now available by many avenues at a moments notice has created an easily controllable splinter in our societies along fractured lines of thinking. True (face to face, in real time) interaction and experience keeps our minds open to the real understanding that differences do exist… and cannot be shut out at the change of the channel, the click of a mouse or the flip of a page on ones tablet.
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A Zombie Nation….(bath salts not included)

Television viewing the world over is at an all-time high if one includes the following “three screens”: a television set, a laptop/personal computer, and a cell phone. British and American children now average eight hours a day on TV, video games, movies, the Internet, cell phones, iPods, and other technologies (not including school-related use)… the highest of any nation. (nielson studies have shown).

While many have become concerned over the years about the concentrated control of content by the corporate media, and “infotainmentation” and social media aspects that have crept into reporting, causing it in some aspects to be less hard hitting, more bipartisan and quick to cede to talking heads on many things is also an alarming trend.

It is important to remember that, it is but the mere act of watching TV—regardless of the programming that is the primary pacifying agent ( Take for example private-enterprise prisons. They have recognized that providing inmates with cable television can be a more economical method to keep them quiet and subdued than it would be to hire more guards).

Television is a dream come true for an authoritarian society: those with the most money own most of what people see, hear (and ultimately think) Fear-based television programming makes people more afraid and distrustful of one another, which is good for the ruling elite who depend on a “divide and conquer” strategy in many ways in order to keep what it is they already have.

TV isolates people so they are not joining together to create resistance to authorities; and regardless of the programming, TV viewers’ brainwaves slow down, transforming them closer to a hypnotic state that makes it difficult to think critically.

While playing video games is not as zombifying as passively viewing TV, such games have become for many boys and young men their only experience of potency, and this “virtual potency” is certainly no threat to the ruling elite. Indeed in some ways, when it comes to things such as war, the general population is becoming less and less connected to the whole idea of war. It is being fought somewhere out there, on my television screen (and brought to me just like a video game), by someone else. The connection one use to feel to such a thing (especially in many western nations), only hits home if someone whom the family knows comes home in a box. Otherwise, it is something we see on television.

Television can offer us many things and it does have the ability to inform, entertain and expand our thinking. The problem is that this type of high quality, in-depth and deep seeded thinking television does not often play well with the bottom line of the large companies that now control more and more and more of an ever shrinking pie of companies. Nor does it grab and hold the attention of a population with more and more choices, and less and less (seeming) desire to take the time to sit and… think.

The proliferation of our species through the massive amounts of information now available by many avenues at a moments notice has created an easily controllable splinter in our societies along fractured lines of thinking.

True (face to face, in real time) interaction and experience keeps our minds open to the real understanding that differences do exist… and cannot be shut out at the change of the channel, the click of a mouse or the flip of a page on ones tablet.

What Is In a Word: Part Thirty-Three Metaphysical Awareness and Metaphors of the Human Mind The dream We are all familiar with the basic characteristics of our sleeping dreams. Prior to the beginning of the dream, there is deep sleep with its absence of consciousness. The dream then bursts forth in full flower, with people, landscapes, buildings, airplanes; an entire world is created in an instant. During the course of the dream, which may last only a few seconds or minutes, people may appear and vanish or die, buildings may arise and crumble or burn, and oceans may form and reform or disappear. Dramas of every imaginable type may play out, including those with beauty, love, murder, hatred, terror, and lust. However, every dream invariably has one principal figure, that of some representation of the “I”. The form of this representation may be different in every respect from the waking “I”, but, on awakening, it is immediately clear which figure represented the “I” and which ones did not. The manifestation, or waking dream, is similar in many respects to the sleeping dream. Since objectivity cannot exist without Subjectivity, the universe cannot exist without sentience to observe it, just as the sleeping dream cannot appear without containing within it an observer to observe it. When the universe appears, it appears in its present entirety, without the need for eons of evolution prior to the arising of sentience. Indeed, it cannot even appear without the sentient objects that are part of it. It is illusory in the sense that awakening (enlightenment) shows that it is not real, but is merely a reflection or shadow of the only Reality, which is Awareness. It is an epiphenomenon of Awareness, is totally dependent on it, and has no separate existence. The sage views the world as a lucid dreamer views his or her dream. Both see that the dream is not real. However, the sage witnesses from pure impersonal Awareness while the lucid dreamer still thinks of him/her self as the dreamer. Also, the sage does not attempt to control the world but the lucid dreamer usually is quite interested in controlling the dream. The movie: We as individuals are nothing but the figures on a movie screen. We have no more reality, independence, or volition than the images projected onto the screen. Everything we seemingly think, feel, or do is actually recorded on the film through which the Light of Awareness shines and projects the images onto the screen of Awareness. The absurdity of our situation is made clear at the thought that a mere image on a screen can strive for success, yearn for fulfillment, or seek for its source! Yet, all this seems to happen, not because the images are doing it, but because it is all recorded on the film! The film is the analog of Plato’s or Goswami’s transcendental realm (both of which are unverifiable concepts), and the light and the screen are the analog of our true nature, which is pure Awareness. The light and the screen are completely unaffected by the film and the images. The images appear from nowhere, do their dance, and disappear back into nowhere, leaving no trace. (The viewer is analogous to the individual mind.) The ocean An extremely useful metaphor to help us picture the relationship between phenomena (arisings in Awareness) and Noumenon (Awareness) is that of the waves on the surface of the ocean. Waves (phenomena) cannot exist without the ocean (Noumenon). The ocean in its depths is quiet, peaceful and undisturbed. Waves, storms, and foaming surf arise on the surface without disturbing the depths. Likewise, Noumenon is totally undisturbed by the frenzied and meaningless activity of phenomena. Each wave consists of a crest and a trough. One cannot appear without the other, just as all of the inseparable opposites of phenomena must appear together. When the ocean (Noumenon) identifies with a wave and the wave thinks of itself as being separate from the other waves and from the ocean itself, the illusory individual appears. This is spiritual ignorance. When identification ends and awakening occurs, it is clear that there is only the ocean (Noumenon), there has always been only the ocean, and we are the ocean. Electricity and the appliance An electrical appliance (a human body) is an inert object that comes to “life” when electricity (Awareness) identifies with it and Presence becomes present. In the absence of the electricity, the appliance is “dead”. A variant of this metaphor is that a fan continues to turn for a time even after the electricity has been turned off, meaning that fear/desire and their derivatives may continue for a time after awakening but they cause no suffering because there is no identification with them The gold object The gold in a bracelet is the same as the gold in a ring. Only the form is different. If the bracelet and ring are melted down, the forms change, but we still have the gold, which is unchanged. The gold is the analog of pure Awareness, while the forms of the bracelet and ring are the analog of arisings in Awareness. Dust in a light beam A light beam is invisible unless it strikes something that reflects it. Awareness (the light beam) perceives itself by reflecting from the manifestation (the dust), which is also itself. Without the manifestation (us), Awareness would not know itself. Awareness sees its own light reflected from itself and is thereby aware of itself. The mirror An ideal mirror (pure Awareness) is invisible and reflects images (the manifestation) without distortion and without being affected by them. Thus, it reflects Reality truly. A distorted mirror (the mind) reflects distorted images. Thus, it reflects Reality as if It were distorted by separation. Without a mirror there are no images, and without images, the presence of the mirror is less apparent. The mirage A desert mirage (the manifestation) as seen from a distance (from ignorance) appears to be water, but up close (after awakening), is seen to be a reflection of the sunlight (Awareness). The pot and the space in which it exists The space (Awareness) in which a pot (the world) exists is unaffected by the pot. The same space exists outside, inside, and within (is immanent in) the walls of the pot. When the pot is broken (when awakening occurs), the space inside and within is seen to be the same as the space outside. A slight variation of this metaphor makes the inner space the mind, the outer space Awareness, with the mind merging with Awareness at awakening. Sunlight and the dew drop Sunlight (pure Awareness) is reflected in a dew drop (the human being) as pure Presence. By concentrating on the feeling of pure Presence, we are led to our true nature as pure Awareness Photo: Sebastian Eriksson
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What Is In a Word: Part Thirty-Three
Metaphysical Awareness and Metaphors of the Human Mind

The dream
We are all familiar with the basic characteristics of our sleeping dreams. Prior to the beginning of the dream, there is deep sleep with its absence of consciousness. The dream then bursts forth in full flower, with people, landscapes, buildings, airplanes; an entire world is created in an instant. During the course of the dream, which may last only a few seconds or minutes, people may appear and vanish or die, buildings may arise and crumble or burn, and oceans may form and reform or disappear. Dramas of every imaginable type may play out, including those with beauty, love, murder, hatred, terror, and lust. However, every dream invariably has one principal figure, that of some representation of the “I”. The form of this representation may be different in every respect from the waking “I”, but, on awakening, it is immediately clear which figure represented the “I” and which ones did not.

The manifestation, or waking dream, is similar in many respects to the sleeping dream. Since objectivity cannot exist without Subjectivity, the universe cannot exist without sentience to observe it, just as the sleeping dream cannot appear without containing within it an observer to observe it. When the universe appears, it appears in its present entirety, without the need for eons of evolution prior to the arising of sentience. Indeed, it cannot even appear without the sentient objects that are part of it. It is illusory in the sense that awakening (enlightenment) shows that it is not real, but is merely a reflection or shadow of the only Reality, which is Awareness. It is an epiphenomenon of Awareness, is totally dependent on it, and has no separate existence.
The sage views the world as a lucid dreamer views his or her dream. Both see that the dream is not real. However, the sage witnesses from pure impersonal Awareness while the lucid dreamer still thinks of him/her self as the dreamer. Also, the sage does not attempt to control the world but the lucid dreamer usually is quite interested in controlling the dream.

The movie:
We as individuals are nothing but the figures on a movie screen. We have no more reality, independence, or volition than the images projected onto the screen. Everything we seemingly think, feel, or do is actually recorded on the film through which the Light of Awareness shines and projects the images onto the screen of Awareness. The absurdity of our situation is made clear at the thought that a mere image on a screen can strive for success, yearn for fulfillment, or seek for its source! Yet, all this seems to happen, not because the images are doing it, but because it is all recorded on the film! The film is the analog of Plato’s or Goswami’s transcendental realm (both of which are unverifiable concepts), and the light and the screen are the analog of our true nature, which is pure Awareness. The light and the screen are completely unaffected by the film and the images. The images appear from nowhere, do their dance, and disappear back into nowhere, leaving no trace. (The viewer is analogous to the individual mind.)

The ocean
An extremely useful metaphor to help us picture the relationship between phenomena (arisings in Awareness) and Noumenon (Awareness) is that of the waves on the surface of the ocean. Waves (phenomena) cannot exist without the ocean (Noumenon). The ocean in its depths is quiet, peaceful and undisturbed. Waves, storms, and foaming surf arise on the surface without disturbing the depths. Likewise, Noumenon is totally undisturbed by the frenzied and meaningless activity of phenomena. Each wave consists of a crest and a trough. One cannot appear without the other, just as all of the inseparable opposites of phenomena must appear together. When the ocean (Noumenon) identifies with a wave and the wave thinks of itself as being separate from the other waves and from the ocean itself, the illusory individual appears. This is spiritual ignorance. When identification ends and awakening occurs, it is clear that there is only the ocean (Noumenon), there has always been only the ocean, and we are the ocean.

Electricity and the appliance
An electrical appliance (a human body) is an inert object that comes to “life” when electricity (Awareness) identifies with it and Presence becomes present. In the absence of the electricity, the appliance is “dead”.

A variant of this metaphor is that a fan continues to turn for a time even after the electricity has been turned off, meaning that fear/desire and their derivatives may continue for a time after awakening but they cause no suffering because there is no identification with them

The gold object
The gold in a bracelet is the same as the gold in a ring. Only the form is different. If the bracelet and ring are melted down, the forms change, but we still have the gold, which is unchanged. The gold is the analog of pure Awareness, while the forms of the bracelet and ring are the analog of arisings in Awareness.

Dust in a light beam
A light beam is invisible unless it strikes something that reflects it. Awareness (the light beam) perceives itself by reflecting from the manifestation (the dust), which is also itself. Without the manifestation (us), Awareness would not know itself. Awareness sees its own light reflected from itself and is thereby aware of itself.

The mirror
An ideal mirror (pure Awareness) is invisible and reflects images (the manifestation) without distortion and without being affected by them. Thus, it reflects Reality truly. A distorted mirror (the mind) reflects distorted images. Thus, it reflects Reality as if It were distorted by separation. Without a mirror there are no images, and without images, the presence of the mirror is less apparent.

The mirage
A desert mirage (the manifestation) as seen from a distance (from ignorance) appears to be water, but up close (after awakening), is seen to be a reflection of the sunlight (Awareness).

The pot and the space in which it exists
The space (Awareness) in which a pot (the world) exists is unaffected by the pot. The same space exists outside, inside, and within (is immanent in) the walls of the pot. When the pot is broken (when awakening occurs), the space inside and within is seen to be the same as the space outside. A slight variation of this metaphor makes the inner space the mind, the outer space Awareness, with the mind merging with Awareness at awakening.

Sunlight and the dew drop
Sunlight (pure Awareness) is reflected in a dew drop (the human being) as pure Presence. By concentrating on the feeling of pure Presence, we are led to our true nature as pure Awareness


Photo: Sebastian Eriksson

Random Thoughts for a Rainy Day (because it is always raining somewhere) Part Six: …on the illusion of the thought. The world is but the surface of the mind, and the mind is infinite. What we call thoughts are just ripples in the mind. When the mind is quiet, it reflects reality. When it is motionless through and through, it dissolves and only reality remains. This reality is so concrete, so actual, and so much more tangible than mind and matter that compared to it even a diamond is soft like butter. This overwhelming actuality makes the world dream-like, misty… irrelevant.
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Random Thoughts for a Rainy Day (because it is always raining somewhere)
Part Six:

…on the illusion of the thought.
The world is but the surface of the mind, and the mind is infinite. What we call thoughts are just ripples in the mind. When the mind is quiet, it reflects reality. When it is motionless through and through, it dissolves and only reality remains. This reality is so concrete, so actual, and so much more tangible than mind and matter that compared to it even a diamond is soft like butter. This overwhelming actuality makes the world dream-like, misty… irrelevant.

A Dose of Sanity: Part Twenty-One …And then it hit me… The American culture of today offers young Americans (and more and more the youth the world over), the “choices” of fundamentalist religion and fundamentalist consumerism. All varieties of fundamentalism narrow one’s focus and inhibit critical thinking. While some progressives are fond of calling fundamentalist religion the “opiate of the masses,” they too often neglect the pacifying nature of America’s other major fundamentalism. Fundamentalist consumerism pacifies young Americans in a variety of ways. Fundamentalist consumerism destroys self-reliance, creating people who feel completely dependent on others and who are thus more likely to turn over decision-making power to authorities, the precise mind-set that the ruling elite loves to see. A fundamentalist consumer culture legitimizes advertising, propaganda, and all kinds of manipulations, including lies; and when a society gives legitimacy to lies and manipulative-ness, it destroys the capacity of people to trust one another and form democratic movements. Fundamentalist consumerism also promotes self-absorption, which makes it difficult for the solidarity necessary for democratic movements
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A Dose of Sanity: Part Twenty-One

…And then it hit me…

The American culture of today offers young Americans (and more and more the youth the world over), the “choices” of fundamentalist religion and fundamentalist consumerism.

All varieties of fundamentalism narrow one’s focus and inhibit critical thinking.

While some progressives are fond of calling fundamentalist religion the “opiate of the masses,” they too often neglect the pacifying nature of America’s other major fundamentalism.

Fundamentalist consumerism pacifies young Americans in a variety of ways. Fundamentalist consumerism destroys self-reliance, creating people who feel completely dependent on others and who are thus more likely to turn over decision-making power to authorities, the precise mind-set that the ruling elite loves to see.

A fundamentalist consumer culture legitimizes advertising, propaganda, and all kinds of manipulations, including lies; and when a society gives legitimacy to lies and manipulative-ness, it destroys the capacity of people to trust one another and form democratic movements.

Fundamentalist consumerism also promotes self-absorption, which makes it difficult for the solidarity necessary for democratic movements

Biting the Hand That Feeds You: Recently, in an off-handed, short and very spontanous (how un-blog like of someone that was), way, I posted a small blurb about what I see as the next big crisis to face our species, that being a crisis of food. Immediately I was greeted with a comment from a reader whom blasted me for not providing “facts,”, and how my post was based on nothing and was basically ridiculous in nature (not a direct quote, just paraphrasing their general idea). While I usually never respond to comments, as I feel that the purpose for what I write here is to lay a forum for ideas and have all comment in any way they choose, this persons comment drove me to elaborate on my ideas of what I think is taking place in our world (as they were right in that reguard, I really had posted… nothing), and how we all need to wake up to the very real threat we ALL could face (and many of us already do) in terms of food sustainability. Today’s world is a place of uneven development, unsustainable use of natural resources, worsening impact of climate change, and continued poverty and malnutrition. Poor food quality and diets are partly responsible for the increase of chronic diseases like obesity and heart disease. Large corporations have (like in many other areas of our world) taken over farming and turned it into a commodity to be bought and sold, like any other, with very little thought to the end customer (in terms of an overall sustainable, level and future thinking idea of health for the planet and our species not just their present day pocket books). Economic speculators have taken something that is a necessity to our very existence and commodmized it in a way that threatens the ability of some to even have food. These are things I think we need to really look at in much deeper detail and really understand that this is not just a problem of what we see as the “third world”. If the economic crash of recent times has shown us anything, it is that the world is a much more connected place than every before and that no one is immune anymore to something that may happen on the other side of the world and out of the sight (and mind) or ones own backyard. For decades, agricultural science has focused on boosting production through the development of new technologies. In some ways this has worked very well. New strains of seeds allow for the production of crops in places never before imaged. It has opened up new areas of production and has allowed persons in far reaching places to access foods never before available to them. It has achieved enormous yield gains as well as lower costs for LARGE-SCALE farming, but on the flip side has all but wiped out the ability for small farmers to operate. This success (like so many other of our advancements as a species), has also come at a high environmental cost. Rainforests cleared, overuse of land to the point that it is no longer useable, mountainsides cleared for cultivation, precious ecosystems wiped out, all in the drive to produce more. What we fail to see is that many of the ecosystems we destroy actual serve to balance the ecosystems we need to sustain life on this planet… and ultimately ourselves. Furthermore, all of these advances have not solved the social and economic problems of the poor in developing countries, which have generally benefited the least from this boost in production, because once again the initial infrastructure for these areas was not in place, and the fast-paced development needed to utilitze these new technologies are slow to filter down through the general worlds population (especially in certain areas of our world). Even in the areas of the world where there is “more, corporate takover of farming has made it impossible to make a decent living unless one is a supersized farm, as it is the bottom line that matters most. The food industry, not unlike all industries employs an army of lobbiest whose sole purpose is to forward the needs of their companies, that need being the bottom line profit. This has led to a decrease in the quality of many products (meat products come to mind immediately), and these also have a direct effect on the enviroments of those areas, which come full circle and effect our species as well. All these things are connected. Study after study in numerous “western nations”have shown the increase in the size (I mean mass not amount of people) of populations is a direct result of the types of foods we eat. One only needs to enter many neighbourhoods to find the access to fresh fruit and vegetable products is limited, even in the most affluent of nations, but the amount of prepackaged food products is ever on the rise. Agriculture is closely linked to these concerns and also to other things including the loss of biodiversity, global warming and water availability. Droughts in areas of the United States and Australia, as well as to a lesser extend in Canada and Russia, all emourmous producers of staple foods, have been on the increase and will only continue to do so, as well as more flooding for longer periods of times in areas of Asia that produce large amounts of rice for the world. Certain areas of our globe still believe that climate change is a hoax, and while they have a right to their opinion, it seems to me that looking in their own back yard and seeing the changes to our planet occuring right before their very eyes would lead them to open them… even just a little. Perhaps it is this idea that it is human-made that is the craw in their side. If so, okay, then say that it is a natural process of the planet, but wake up to the fact that (for whatever reasons) it is occurring and it IS having and will continue to have, in greater and greater amounts, a direct impact on everything in our lives, and most assuridly on our abilities to produce food. While not directly tackling the fundamentals of why it is occuring, looking at it in this way for those whom can’t bring themselves to see that humans have contributed to this in great amounts, is still a good start, as I see as it at the very least brings us all onto the same page of understanding that we must do something for our future generations if we want to sustain our species and our food availability. At this point it seems, many don’t even want to be on the page of understanding something needs to be done (reguardless of how we got ourselves to this point in the first place). When people think of climate change their first thought is, oil, and pollution and too many cars, and factories and the like, but what many seem to forget is that climate change means a change to our CLIMATE, and this has a direct effect on how we can grow anything we need to consume. In order to address the diverse needs and interests that shape human life, we need a shared approach to sustainability that begins with a local awareness but goes hand in hand with a cross-national collaboration. We cannot escape our predicament by simply continuing to rely on the aggregation of individual choices, to achieve sustainable and equitable collective outcomes. This “libertarian” idea of freedom and everyone will follow along for the greater good of the whole, is unrealistic in a species that puts monitary gains ahead of all else more and more and more. When libertarians (as they call themselves) connect their ideas with a free market ideology, it seems we are doomed. We are not a level playing field, as a species, and in some ways, we may never be, but to simply follow this psudo-libertarian idea would get us no further along the path to a solution than we are now. It would, it seems to me, maintain what we have now… pockets of haves and have nots and some whom want the best for everyone, and some whom want something for themselves… and everyone chasing the almight dollar. Incentives are needed to influence the choices individuals make. Issues such as poverty and climate change require collective agreements on concerted action and governance across scales that go beyond an appeal to individual benefit. In short, humans need to start thinking more collectively. At the global, regional, national and local levels, decision makers must be acutely conscious of the fact that there are diverse challenges, multiple theoretical frameworks and development models and a wide range of options to meet development and sustainability goals. They need to start educating themselves and the general population to the fact that YES what one does DOES effect others, we DON’T live in our own little worlds. Our perception of the challenges and the choices we make at this juncture in history will determine how we protect our planet and secure our future. We need to understand that the planet is not just ours for the span of our own existence, it is, actually for future generations. Beginning to understand we are more caretakers than risktakers in terms of the planet, seems the way to go. And so, if I were to look at what needs to be done, and taking into consideration all the data from all the agencies the world-over on the multitude of complex issues that are connected to food and its production and distribution, I would say that development and sustainability goals should be placed in the context of: (i) current social and economic inequities and political uncertainties about war and conflicts; (ii) uncertainties about the ability to sustainably produce and access sufficient food; (iii) uncertainties about the future of world food prices; (iv) changes in the economics of fossil based energy use; (v) the emergence of new competitors for natural resources; (vi) increasing chronic diseases that are partially a consequence of poor nutrition and poor food quality as well as food safety; (vii) and changing environmental conditions and the growing awareness of human responsibility for the maintenance of global ecosystem services Lastly, I think a very big concern would be the way in which our species has turned everything into a commodity. Banks and hedge funds are speculating on the prices of food. This needs to stop. Speculators are what caused in part (I would not say all, as I do believe we ALL play a part in all things), the internet bubble, the housing bust the collaps of banks and they are what will also cause a food crisis (in part) Futures contracts’ have been used and were created as a way for farmers to deal with the uncertainty of growing crops (drought, floods, other natural disaters and the like are some examples of this uncertainty). With a futures contract, a farmer can sell his or her crops at a future date at a guaranteed price. However, these contracts can also be bought and sold by speculators who have no interest in the actual food being traded. Instead, by buying and selling the contracts they could profit from the prices changing over time – betting on the price of food. These markets for futures contracts worked well until the late 1990s, when aggressive lobbying by bankers led to regulations being rolled back (as we know in the case of all the economic stumbles we are experiecing the world over now). New and complicated financial products created more ways to make money from betting on food. Corporations began to amalgimate, creating more demand for a greater profit for their shareholders and their bottom line. All the while, the fact that this was food… one of the few REAL needs of our species, seemed to be an afterthought. Since the late ninties, the share of the markets for basic foods like wheat held by speculators – who have no connection to food – has increased from 12 per cent to 61 per cent. (source: the World Development Form). Deregulation has led to many of the problems we have in the world today (and anyone whom tells me… show me the facts on that… only need to look at any television news channel or even just walk the streets of their own city… especially in the west…to see the state of the ENTIRE world), and this same deregulation is the same thing that will lead to catastropic problems with food as we continue to move forward. It is time to fundamentally rethink the role of agricultural knowledge, big business, corporate ownership, science and technology in achieving equitable development and sustainability. The focus must turn to the needs of small farms in diverse ecosystems and to areas with the greatest needs as well as improving and regulating the existing avenues we have in the developed world and beyond. This means improving rural livelihoods, empowering marginalized stakeholders, sustaining natural resources, enhancing multiple benefits provided by ecosystems, considering diverse forms of knowledge, regulating food resources better, changing our attitudes about food as a commodity and providing fair market access for farm products. A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one. The Greeks understood this all those thousands of years ago, and it seems today, in our world where we are becoming more connected in many ways, we need to understand that connection is just not talking, just not selling and just not consuming, connection is in all things, at all times, and the most abvious of connects will almost most assuridely lead to a multiutde of others as well… If only we would take the time to really look.
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Biting the Hand That Feeds You:

Recently, in an off-handed, short and very spontanous (how un-blog like of someone that was), way, I posted a small blurb about what I see as the next big crisis to face our species, that being a crisis of food. Immediately I was greeted with a comment from a reader whom blasted me for not providing “facts,”, and how my post was based on nothing and was basically ridiculous in nature (not a direct quote, just paraphrasing their general idea). While I usually never respond to comments, as I feel that the purpose for what I write here is to lay a forum for ideas and have all comment in any way they choose, this persons comment drove me to elaborate on my ideas of what I think is taking place in our world (as they were right in that reguard, I really had posted… nothing), and how we all need to wake up to the very real threat we ALL could face (and many of us already do) in terms of food sustainability.

Today’s world is a place of uneven development, unsustainable use of natural resources, worsening impact of climate change, and continued poverty and malnutrition. Poor food quality and diets are partly responsible for the increase of chronic diseases like obesity and heart disease. Large corporations have (like in many other areas of our world) taken over farming and turned it into a commodity to be bought and sold, like any other, with very little thought to the end customer (in terms of an overall sustainable, level and future thinking idea of health for the planet and our species not just their present day pocket books). Economic speculators have taken something that is a necessity to our very existence and commodmized it in a way that threatens the ability of some to even have food. These are things I think we need to really look at in much deeper detail and really understand that this is not just a problem of what we see as the “third world”. If the economic crash of recent times has shown us anything, it is that the world is a much more connected place than every before and that no one is immune anymore to something that may happen on the other side of the world and out of the sight (and mind) or ones own backyard.

For decades, agricultural science has focused on boosting production through the development of new technologies. In some ways this has worked very well. New strains of seeds allow for the production of crops in places never before imaged. It has opened up new areas of production and has allowed persons in far reaching places to access foods never before available to them. It has achieved enormous yield gains as well as lower costs for LARGE-SCALE farming, but on the flip side has all but wiped out the ability for small farmers to operate. This success (like so many other of our advancements as a species), has also come at a high environmental cost. Rainforests cleared, overuse of land to the point that it is no longer useable, mountainsides cleared for cultivation, precious ecosystems wiped out, all in the drive to produce more. What we fail to see is that many of the ecosystems we destroy actual serve to balance the ecosystems we need to sustain life on this planet… and ultimately ourselves.

Furthermore, all of these advances have not solved the social and economic problems of the poor in developing countries, which have generally benefited the least from this boost in production, because once again the initial infrastructure for these areas was not in place, and the fast-paced development needed to utilitze these new technologies are slow to filter down through the general worlds population (especially in certain areas of our world). Even in the areas of the world where there is “more, corporate takover of farming has made it impossible to make a decent living unless one is a supersized farm, as it is the bottom line that matters most. The food industry, not unlike all industries employs an army of lobbiest whose sole purpose is to forward the needs of their companies, that need being the bottom line profit. This has led to a decrease in the quality of many products (meat products come to mind immediately), and these also have a direct effect on the enviroments of those areas, which come full circle and effect our species as well. All these things are connected.

Study after study in numerous “western nations”have shown the increase in the size (I mean mass not amount of people) of populations is a direct result of the types of foods we eat. One only needs to enter many neighbourhoods to find the access to fresh fruit and vegetable products is limited, even in the most affluent of nations, but the amount of prepackaged food products is ever on the rise.

Agriculture is closely linked to these concerns and also to other things including the loss of biodiversity, global warming and water availability. Droughts in areas of the United States and Australia, as well as to a lesser extend in Canada and Russia, all emourmous producers of staple foods, have been on the increase and will only continue to do so, as well as more flooding for longer periods of times in areas of Asia that produce large amounts of rice for the world. Certain areas of our globe still believe that climate change is a hoax, and while they have a right to their opinion, it seems to me that looking in their own back yard and seeing the changes to our planet occuring right before their very eyes would lead them to open them… even just a little. Perhaps it is this idea that it is human-made that is the craw in their side. If so, okay, then say that it is a natural process of the planet, but wake up to the fact that (for whatever reasons) it is occurring and it IS having and will continue to have, in greater and greater amounts, a direct impact on everything in our lives, and most assuridly on our abilities to produce food. While not directly tackling the fundamentals of why it is occuring, looking at it in this way for those whom can’t bring themselves to see that humans have contributed to this in great amounts, is still a good start, as I see as it at the very least brings us all onto the same page of understanding that we must do something for our future generations if we want to sustain our species and our food availability. At this point it seems, many don’t even want to be on the page of understanding something needs to be done (reguardless of how we got ourselves to this point in the first place). When people think of climate change their first thought is, oil, and pollution and too many cars, and factories and the like, but what many seem to forget is that climate change means a change to our CLIMATE, and this has a direct effect on how we can grow anything we need to consume.
In order to address the diverse needs and interests that shape human life, we need a shared approach to sustainability that begins with a local awareness but goes hand in hand with a cross-national collaboration. We cannot escape our predicament by simply continuing to rely on the aggregation of individual choices, to achieve sustainable and equitable collective outcomes. This “libertarian” idea of freedom and everyone will follow along for the greater good of the whole, is unrealistic in a species that puts monitary gains ahead of all else more and more and more. When libertarians (as they call themselves) connect their ideas with a free market ideology, it seems we are doomed. We are not a level playing field, as a species, and in some ways, we may never be, but to simply follow this psudo-libertarian idea would get us no further along the path to a solution than we are now. It would, it seems to me, maintain what we have now… pockets of haves and have nots and some whom want the best for everyone, and some whom want something for themselves… and everyone chasing the almight dollar.

Incentives are needed to influence the choices individuals make. Issues such as poverty and climate change require collective agreements on concerted action and governance across scales that go beyond an appeal to individual benefit. In short, humans need to start thinking more collectively. At the global, regional, national and local levels, decision makers must be acutely conscious of the fact that there are diverse challenges, multiple theoretical frameworks and development models and a wide range of options to meet development and sustainability goals. They need to start educating themselves and the general population to the fact that YES what one does DOES effect others, we DON’T live in our own little worlds. Our perception of the challenges and the choices we make at this juncture in history will determine how we protect our planet and secure our future. We need to understand that the planet is not just ours for the span of our own existence, it is, actually for future generations. Beginning to understand we are more caretakers than risktakers in terms of the planet, seems the way to go.

And so, if I were to look at what needs to be done, and taking into consideration all the data from all the agencies the world-over on the multitude of complex issues that are connected to food and its production and distribution, I would say that development and sustainability goals should be placed in the context of:

(i) current social and economic inequities and political uncertainties about war and conflicts;
(ii) uncertainties about the ability to sustainably produce and access sufficient food;
(iii) uncertainties about the future of world food prices;
(iv) changes in the economics of fossil based energy use;
(v) the emergence of new competitors for natural resources;
(vi) increasing chronic diseases that are partially a consequence of poor nutrition and poor food quality as well as food safety;
(vii) and changing environmental conditions and the growing awareness of human responsibility for the maintenance of global ecosystem services

Lastly, I think a very big concern would be the way in which our species has turned everything into a commodity. Banks and hedge funds are speculating on the prices of food. This needs to stop. Speculators are what caused in part (I would not say all, as I do believe we ALL play a part in all things), the internet bubble, the housing bust the collaps of banks and they are what will also cause a food crisis (in part)

Futures contracts’ have been used and were created as a way for farmers to deal with the uncertainty of growing crops (drought, floods, other natural disaters and the like are some examples of this uncertainty). With a futures contract, a farmer can sell his or her crops at a future date at a guaranteed price. However, these contracts can also be bought and sold by speculators who have no interest in the actual food being traded. Instead, by buying and selling the contracts they could profit from the prices changing over time – betting on the price of food.

These markets for futures contracts worked well until the late 1990s, when aggressive lobbying by bankers led to regulations being rolled back (as we know in the case of all the economic stumbles we are experiecing the world over now). New and complicated financial products created more ways to make money from betting on food. Corporations began to amalgimate, creating more demand for a greater profit for their shareholders and their bottom line. All the while, the fact that this was food… one of the few REAL needs of our species, seemed to be an afterthought.
Since the late ninties, the share of the markets for basic foods like wheat held by speculators – who have no connection to food – has increased from 12 per cent to 61 per cent. (source: the World Development Form). Deregulation has led to many of the problems we have in the world today (and anyone whom tells me… show me the facts on that… only need to look at any television news channel or even just walk the streets of their own city… especially in the west…to see the state of the ENTIRE world), and this same deregulation is the same thing that will lead to catastropic problems with food as we continue to move forward.

It is time to fundamentally rethink the role of agricultural knowledge, big business, corporate ownership, science and technology in achieving equitable development and sustainability. The focus must turn to the needs of small farms in diverse ecosystems and to areas with the greatest needs as well as improving and regulating the existing avenues we have in the developed world and beyond. This means improving rural livelihoods, empowering marginalized stakeholders, sustaining natural resources, enhancing multiple benefits provided by ecosystems, considering diverse forms of knowledge, regulating food resources better, changing our attitudes about food as a commodity and providing fair market access for farm products.

A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one. The Greeks understood this all those thousands of years ago, and it seems today, in our world where we are becoming more connected in many ways, we need to understand that connection is just not talking, just not selling and just not consuming, connection is in all things, at all times, and the most abvious of connects will almost most assuridely lead to a multiutde of others as well… If only we would take the time to really look.

Denial of Truths is the Cornerstone of Human Existence: We are all too busy trying to prove what the truth is.>
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Denial of Truths is the Cornerstone of Human Existence:
We are all too busy trying to prove what the truth is.>

A Dose of Sanity: Part TwentyNo (point for) This Madness: An Open Letter to the Friend in us All How many times a day do you desire something because of a label? Or cringe from it because it is one that is not in line with your thinking? Labels come in all forms, and the ones that hurt us the most are not the ones we continue to consume in our increasingly commodity-driven existence (we are told we should have so others will think we have “made it”). They are the labels we attach to everything…. and to everyone. They pigeon-hole us into an existence set forth by, not ourselves (ironically), but the framers of the ideas of these labels. They give the control of your personality to another. They hold others to a place we have given them and they stop (often) further thought from progressing. They free the person taking on the label the need to explore further their own existence, for they can find comfort in the bosom of the label. But often that comfort will come back to bite you. They cause us to fear, to hate, to hide away from a person …. Because of a label. They make us less of a species. What will it take to be free of such binds and restriction? What will it take to be strong enough to let go? Acceptance of fear of the unknown? Understanding that differences will always exist? Knowledge? It is time for all of us to stop this practice of Negative Theology.
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A Dose of Sanity: Part Twenty
No (point for) This Madness: An Open Letter to the Friend in us All

How many times a day do you desire something because of a label? Or cringe from it because it is one that is not in line with your thinking? Labels come in all forms, and the ones that hurt us the most are not the ones we continue to consume in our increasingly commodity-driven existence (we are told we should have so others will think we have “made it”).

They are the labels we attach to everything…. and to everyone.
They pigeon-hole us into an existence set forth by, not ourselves (ironically), but the framers of the ideas of these labels.
They give the control of your personality to another.
They hold others to a place we have given them and they stop (often) further thought from progressing.
They free the person taking on the label the need to explore further their own existence, for they can find comfort in the bosom of the label. But often that comfort will come back to bite you.
They cause us to fear, to hate, to hide away from a person …. Because of a label.
They make us less of a species.

What will it take to be free of such binds and restriction? What will it take to be strong enough to let go?

Acceptance of fear of the unknown? Understanding that differences will always exist? Knowledge?

It is time for all of us to stop this practice of Negative Theology.