Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/13/21:
"Critical Updates"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/13/21:
"MELTDOWN 2.0: Artificial Liquidity Is Fueling
The System In An Attempt To Push Off A CREDIT FREEZE"
So, we rise from the rubble...
Friday, August 13, 2021
"I Feel Like I Am Living In Crazytown"
"I Feel Like I Am Living In Crazytown"
by Michael Snyder
"We haven’t had an extended bout of painful inflation like this since the days of the Carter administration, and our leaders in Washington have decided that the best way forward is to rapidly create even more inflation. They keep using words like “transitory” to describe the current inflation crisis, but then they turn right around and talk about the need to create, borrow and spend even more money. It is utter madness, but at this point there is nobody that is going to stop them. We are all passengers on a “highway to Weimar”, and those that have their hands on the wheel have gone completely nuts.
On Wednesday, we learned that on a year-over-year basis inflation continues to rise at the fastest pace that we have seen since the last financial crisis… "Federal data released on Wednesday showed that for the 12 months through July, the consumer price index rose 5.4 percent, unchanged from June and at the highest level since the Great Recession in 2008."
But since the way that the rate of inflation is calculated has literally been changed dozens of times over the decades, the only way to get an apples for apples comparison is to calculate what the rate of inflation would be if it was still calculated the same way it was at some previous moment in our history. John Williams of shadowstats.com has done just that. According to Williams, if inflation was still calculated the same way it was back in 1990, we would be at about 9 percent at this moment. And if inflation was still calculated the same way it was back in 1980, we would be way into double digits right now.
Many Americans had assumed that we would never again see the sort of crazy inflation that we witnessed during the Carter years, but now it is here. In particular, food prices, gas prices and vehicle prices are rapidly becoming quite painful… "New vehicle prices rose 6.4 percent on the year, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending January 1982. Gasoline was also up 42 percent.
The prices of many everyday items have jumped sharply in the past year. Bacon was up 11 percent and whole milk and beef roast were both 8 percent higher on the year.
Travel expenses jumped hugely from last summer’s depressed base level, with hotels up 24 percent and airfare up 19 percent."
Needless to say, this is having a substantial impact on our standard of living. Even though wages are rising, they aren’t rising nearly as fast as the cost of living is… "It is getting harder and harder for American workers to make ends meet as rising inflation outpaces pay gains, pushing down inflation-adjusted compensation at a pace almost never seen before. Adjusted for inflation, hourly compensation fell 2.7 percent in the second quarter, data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the nonfarm business sector showed Tuesday."
Inflation is a tax on all of us, and it is going to whittle down the size of the middle class with each passing month. And this is just the beginning. In recent days, many corporate executives have been very vocal about the fact that more price hikes are ahead.
For example, Shake Shack has publicly announced that another round of price increases is incoming… "The popular burger chain Shake Shack announced it will be implementing yet another price hike in 2021 to fight inflation. During a conference call with analysts last week, Shake Shack’s chief financial officer Katherine Fogerty said customers will be paying three to 3.5 percent more for their food in the fourth quarter of 2021."
And the CEO of Tyson Foods is warning that costs keep rising even more quickly than his company can raise prices for consumers… "Tyson Foods Inc., the top chicken producer in the U.S., confirmed in an earnings call that food inflation continues to push prices higher. Tyson’s CEO Donnie King said higher costs are hitting the firm faster than the company can lift prices, and retail prices are set to rise on Sept. 5."
My friends, this is going to get bad. Really bad.
So what are our leaders doing in response? Well, they have decided to create, borrow and spend even more money. In fact, the Senate just passed a 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure package and then immediately began working on a 3.5 trillion dollar spending package… "The Senate on Tuesday passed a $1 trillion infrastructure package and sent it to the House for consideration. The upper chamber then started work on a second $3.5 trillion package of further government spending. President Joe Biden will have to knit his party together to pass the larger measure. Already moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, have voiced concern about the impact of the $3.5 trillion measure on the $29 trillion national debt."
I feel like I am living in Crazytown. They know that they are causing inflation, but they just can’t help themselves. At this point, even a top Democrat is warning that there will be “grave consequences”… "U.S. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday said he had “serious concerns” about Senate Democrats’ planned $3.5 trillion spending plan, potentially gumming up efforts to move ahead with President Joe Biden’s top priorities. Manchin, in a statement, said that although he voted to move ahead and debate the plan, he was worried about the “grave consequences” of such spending on the nation’s debt as well as the country’s ability to respond to other potential crises."
But even though some of our politicians may pay lip service to fiscal responsibility once in a while, in the end most of them just keep voting for these insane spending packages. So what can we do? I often say that we should “hope for the best and prepare for the worst”, but in this case there is no hoping for the best. We know what they are going to do, and we know where this road leads. So my recommendation is to prepare for the worst, and then do some more preparing, because things will eventually get really, really bad.
Congress is going to pass wild spending package after wild spending package, and the Fed is just going to continue to pump billions upon billions of fresh dollars into the financial system. This is the greatest financial bubble in the history of the world, and it will be fascinating to watch how long it can last before it finally implodes."
Thursday, August 12, 2021
"Banks Keep Closing; Credit Cards Cancelled; Fast Food Jobs Are Now A Career; Worst Is Yet To Come"
Jeremiah Babe, PM 8/12/21:
"Banks Keep Closing; Credit Cards Cancelled;
Fast Food Jobs Are Now A Career; Worst Is Yet To Come"
"The 'Infrastructure' Bill"
"The 'Infrastructure' Bill"
by Brian Maher
"We are surprised only that so many are surprised…19 Republican members of the United States Senate hoisted a truce flag… came to terms with their Democratic foes… and signed their names a $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill. Thus the 2,700-page Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is the “bipartisan” Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
How many horses were traded? How many backs were scratched? How many palms were slicked? Which senators got the heaviest sugaring? We do not have all answers at this time. We have instructed our minions to investigate the particulars. We ordered them off at flank speed, and informed them we expect a detailed report very, very soon. Yet we know a 2,700-page bill can conceal a great deal of rascality… as high grass can conceal a snake… or a woodpile may conceal a skunk. Our men have shoveled up one telling detail, very much in point…
Senator Joe Manchin Holds the Cards: The United States Senate is a house divided against itself - plum down the middle - 50-50. Senator Joe Manchin is the senior senator from the state of West Virginia. He is a Democrat. Yet Senator Manchin is widely considered a “moderate” Democrat. He will graze against the grain when his conscience demands it… and buck his party. He is therefore a sort of makeweight. He can lower his thumb upon the legislative scales… and throw them tipping in either direction.
Given the senatorial mathematics, Democrats need him thumbing the scales their way. Else they are unable to shoulder through their ambitious agenda. Thus an “open for business” sign hangs upon his door in the Hart Senate Office Building. He can charge pretty premiums for his allegiance: “What do I get in return?”
It’s Not What You Know... Now consider: Senator Manchin is married to a certain Gayle Connelly Manchin. Mrs. Manchin chairs a body named the Appalachian Regional Commission. Mr. Biden appointed her to this august position. You might be surprised to learn: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act - of which Sen. Manchin is a sponsor - jams $1 billion into the back pocket of the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Please ask yourself this question: Is it coincidence that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act - of which Sen. Manchin is a sponsor - jams $1 billion into the back pocket of the Appalachian Regional Commission? For the matter of that… is it coincidence that Mr. Biden nominated Mrs. Manchin to chair the Appalachian Regional Commission in the first instance? We hazard these are not coincidences. Yet we have additional questions...
Why Did 19 Republicans Go Along? Why did 19 Republican senators sign their names on Mr. Biden’s dotted line? Why did these illustrious gentlemen and ladies deliver him a political win?
They were aware this $1.2 trillion “hard infrastructure” bill… which is perhaps 20% infrastructure… is tied up to a $3.5 trillion “soft infrastructure” bill to follow. That is, tied up to a $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” bill. That is, tied up to a $3.5 trillion social spending bill. That is, tied up to a $3.5 trillion bread and circuses extravaganza.
Do we speculate? We do not speculate. Speaker Pelosi has already declared her intent. She has already spread her playing cards upon the gaming table. Reports The Hill: "Pelosi, since the infrastructure talks launched in earnest months ago, has adopted the position that the House will not turn to the $1 trillion infrastructure package until the Senate passes a much larger $3.5 trillion package chock full of Democratic social benefits programs and climate initiatives…
The Speaker has also been clear that the infrastructure package alone is insufficient to tackle the challenges facing the country when it comes to economic inequality, health care disparities, workers rights and the warming planet. It’s those issues that Democrats will address in the second legislative package, which is expected to move under special budget rules, known as reconciliation, which preclude the Republicans’ filibuster powers and allow Senate Democrats to pass the measure with a simple majority."
A second Hill article affirms Republicans knew well the “bait and switch” for which they were falling: "The Republicans knew ahead of time that there would be another bill with a total price tag of $3.5 trillion. They were told of the bait and switch. The second spending plan is led by the self-described democratic socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). No matter what Republicans say about making it painful for Democrats to pass the second bill, their ignorance of reality is how this will be used against them."
The Debt Ceiling: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seems to believe he holds an ace card up his shirtsleeve - the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling represents the total amount of money the federal government is authorized to borrow. In 2019, Congress suspended the debt limit until July 31, 2021. The ceiling was reestablished at $28.5 trillion. As of this afternoon… August 12, 2021… the national debt runs to $28.6 trillion. That is, above the previously established ceiling.
Absent a resolution to elevate the debt ceiling anew, the government cannot borrow additional monies. Ms. Janet Yellen and her Treasury Department have begun resorting to “extraordinary measures” to keep the government in funds. Yet the Congressional Budget Office estimates the national strongbox will empty in October or November - absent a deal. How can a government running a $2 trillion budget deficit... rub along if it cannot constantly borrow?
The question is the answer. Each and every species of calamity would follow, we are warned. Ms. Yellen moans about the “irreparable harm to the U.S. economy and the livelihoods of all Americans” that would befall the nation.
Will Republicans Use the Debt Ceiling as Leverage? But Senator McConnell has summoned his blood… drawn his line in the beach sand… and hunkered in. He will not aid and abet Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spree, he thunders: "Our friends across the aisle should not expect traditional bipartisan borrowing to finance their nontraditional reckless taxing and spending spree. That's not how this works."
Senate Democrats are wagering that the senior senator from Kentucky will buckle under the political pressure that will fall upon his slender shoulders. Washington Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, gives him a dare: “Nobody wants to be responsible for a major economic disaster. So my guess is in the fall, he won’t be saying that.”
Argues Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii: “I am predicting, with absolute certainty, it will resolve itself uneventfully. Because it always does.”
Meantime, Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) shoveled up Senator McConnell’s words from the previous debt ceiling “debate:” "Look what I have right here: These are all the quotes of Mitch McConnell, who has said, ‘We will never have America default.’ And he’s right. At the end of the day, Republicans understand ... they’re not going to destroy the economy." We are with Senator Sanders and his Democratic mates...
Fat Chance Republicans Hold Firm: Senator McConnell and his Republicans will blink their eyes. They will erase the line they drew across the sand. They will agree to raise the debt ceiling. We will eat each and every word of this article - without salt, without butter - if wrong.
There may be some limited breaking of lances for honor’s sake. Some slight amount of blood might be drawn… as sometimes blood is drawn in a professional wrestling bout. And for the same reason - to give a good show.
But the blows are false, and the combat is staged. Democrats may agree to scalpel out some blubber from the flanks of the $3.5 trillion enormity they propose. Republicans will proceed to raise their arms in victory. They will yell about delivering a blow for fiscal conservatism. They will then agree to raise the debt ceiling… and shake hands on a $3.49 trillion bill."
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Full screen recommended.
"US Debt of $30 Trillion Visualized in Stacks of Physical Cash"
"We're so freakin' doomed!"
Gerald Celente, "Trends Journal: The Covid War; The Fight of our Lives"
Full screen recommended.
Gerald Celente,
"Trends Journal: The Covid War; The Fight of our Lives"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."○
Related, essential:
Musical Interlude: Two Steps From Hell, "Evergreen"
Full screen recommended.
Two Steps From Hell, "Evergreen"
Close your eyes, let your imagination flow with the music...
What images do you see, what do you feel?
"A Look to the Heavens"
"The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about "5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. But the red emission region roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes is what lends the Trifid its popular name.
Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, below and left of the emission nebula's center, appear in famous Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across. Just too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, it almost covers the area of a full moon in planet Earth's sky."
Free Download: R.D. Laing, "The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness"
"The Divided Self:
An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness"
by R.D. Laing
"Ronald David Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness – in particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment of serious mental dysfunction, greatly influenced by existential philosophy, ran counter to the psychiatric orthodoxy of the day by taking the expressed feelings of the individual patient or client as valid descriptions of lived experience rather than simply as symptoms of some separate or underlying disorder. Laing was associated with the anti-psychiatry movement, although he rejected the label. Politically, he was regarded as a thinker of the New Left.”
"First published in 1960, this watershed work aimed to make madness comprehensible, and in doing so revolutionized the way we perceive mental illness. Using case studies of patients he had worked with, psychiatrist R. D. Laing argued that psychosis is not a medical condition but an outcome of the 'divided self', or the tension between the two personas within us: one our authentic, private identity, and the other the false, 'sane' self that we present to the world.”
Freely download “The Divided Self:
An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness”, by R.D. Laing, here:
◆
"Insights Of R.D. Laing"
"Decades ago, psychiatrist R.D. Laing developed three rules by which he believed a pathological family (one suffering from abuse, alcoholism, etc.) can keep its pathology hidden from even its own family members. Adherence to these three rules allows perpetrators, victims, and observers to maintain the fantasy that they are all one big, happy family. The rules are: Rule A: Don't talk about the problems and abject conditions; Rule A1: Rule A does not exist; Rule A2: Do not discuss the existence or nonexistence of Rules A, A1, and/or A2."
“From the moment of birth, when the stone-age baby confronts the twentieth-century mother, the baby is subjected to these forces of violence, called love, as its mother and father have been, and their parents and their parents before them. These forces are mainly concerned with destroying most of its potentialities. This enterprise is on the whole successful.”
“Children do not give up their innate imagination, curiosity, dreaminess easily. You have to love them to get them to do that.”
“We are all murderers and prostitutes - no matter to what culture, society, class, nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature, one takes oneself to be.”
“Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.”
“We are bemused and crazed creatures, strangers to our true selves, to one another, and to the spiritual and material world - mad, even, from an ideal standpoint we can glimpse but not adopt.”
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent.”
“Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.”
“We are bemused and crazed creatures, strangers to our true selves, to one another, and to the spiritual and material world - mad, even, from an ideal standpoint we can glimpse but not adopt.”
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent.”
"What Keeps You Going..."
"What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and you ask yourself, 'What life can I live that will let me breathe in and out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods?'"
- Barbara Kingsolver
“For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. Feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world. Drag our shadowed crosses into the hope of another night. Push our brave hearts into the promise of a new day. With love: the passionate search for truth other than our own. With longing: the pure, ineffable yearning to be saved. For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on. God help us. God forgive us. We live on.”
- Gregory David Roberts, “Shantaram”
"Emotion Processing in Brain is Influenced by Color of Ambient Light"
"Emotion Processing in Brain is Influenced
by Color of Ambient Light"
by ScienceDaily
"We are all aware that a bright day may lift our mood. However the brain mechanisms involved in such effects of light are largely unknown. Researchers at the Cyclotron Research Centre (University of Liege), Geneva Center for Neuroscience and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (University of Geneva), and Surrey Sleep Research Centre (University of Surrey) investigated the immediate effect of light, and of its color composition, on emotion brain processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results of their study, published in "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," show that the color of light influences the way the brain processes emotional stimuli.
Brain activity of healthy volunteers was recorded while they listened to "angry voices" and "neutral voices" and were exposed to blue or green light. Blue light not only increased responses to emotional stimuli in the "voice area" of the brain and in the hippocampus, which is important for memory processes, but also led to a tighter interaction between the voice area, the amygdala, which is a key area in emotion regulation, and the hypothalamus, which is essential for biological rhythms regulation by light. This demonstrates that the functional organization of the brain was affected by blue light.
The acute effects of ambient light on emotional processing might differ from its longer-lasting effects on mood, but the present findings in healthy subjects have important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms by which changes in lighting environment could improves mood, not only in mood disorders using light therapy, but also in our day to day life, by paying more attention to our light environment at home and in the work place."
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/
Blue lights for everyone!
Chet Raymo, “The (Unattainable) Thing Itself”
“The (Unattainable) Thing Itself”
by Chet Raymo
“Clear water in a brilliant bowl,
Pink and white carnations. The light
In the room more like a snowy air,
Reflecting snow. A newly-fallen snow
At the end of winter when afternoons return.
Pink and white carnations- one desires
So much more than that. The day itself
Is simplified: a bowl of white,
Cold, a cold porcelain, low and round,
With nothing more than the carnations there.”
"Simplicity. Morning. Forty minutes till sunrise. Coffee. An English muffin. Sit on the terrace. The sky a deep violet. Then rose. Then gold. Simplicity. The senses fill to overbrimming, displacing thought. The moment is sweet and pure. Distilled. The shackles of conscience fall away. One simply is.
“Say even that this complete simplicity
Stripped one of all one's torments, concealed
The evilly compounded, vital I
And made it fresh in a world of white,
A world of clear water, brilliant-edged,
Still one would want more, one would need more,
More than a world of white and snowy scents.”
Now I wait with my eyes fixed on that place along the horizon where the Sun will rise. The sky itself holds its breath, anticipates the flash of green. I try, I try to empty myself, Zenlike, to become an empty vessel for nature to fill. A gathering vessel, brilliant edged. To exist entirely in the moment, outside of time, this moment, just now, now, as the disk of the Sun bubbles up on the sea horizon, that orb of of molten gold.
“There would still remain the never-resting mind,
So that one would want to escape, come back
To what had been so long composed.
The imperfect is our paradise.
Note that, in this bitterness, delight,
Since the imperfect is so hot in us,
Lies in flawed words and stubborn sounds.”
It's no use, of course. No way to obviate the conscious mind. Perhaps a Zen master might do it, a mystic in transport, a drunken sailor who walks into a lamppost. Even as the Sun's disk inflates, swells, unaccountably huge, the mind parses, frames, construes. I close my eyes to shut out thought and the words fill up the space behind my eyelids. The thing itself is out of reach, the moment adulterated by mind. The blessing of consciousness. And the curse."
(The three stanzas are Wallace Stevens' "The Poems of Our Climate.")
"Only One Question..."
"There's only one question that matters, and it's the one you never get around to asking. People are capable of varying degrees of truth. The majority spend their entire lives fabricating an elaborate skein of lies, immersing themselves in the faith of bad faith, doing whatever it takes to feel safe. The person who truly lives has precious few moments of safety, learns to thrive in any kind of storm. It's the truth you can stare down stone-cold that makes you what you are. Weak or strong. Live or die. Prove yourself. How much truth can you take?"
- Karen Marie Moning
"Trapped in Ice"
"Trapped in Ice"
by Bill Bonner
POITOU, FRANCE – "This week, the U.S. stock market touched yet another new record, after the latest figures allegedly showed a softening in inflation. Some news reports said inflation appears to have “peaked out” in July. But the “news” is not always a reliable source of information. The press has a few cards up its sleeve, too. And when it reported that inflation had “moderated,” it did not necessarily lay them all on the table.
The actual reading for the consumer price index (CPI) went up last month, not down. Whether you look at the regular CPI or the “core” CPI (excluding food and energy), the number was higher for July than it was for June. Here’s the official data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, without the media spin: "In July, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis; rising 5.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.3 percent in July (SA); up 4.3 percent over the year (NSA)."
You can even “stack” the numbers up over two years to avoid the alleged “COVID-19 bounceback.” They show the same thing – higher prices. Here’s Breitbart on the story last week: "Inflationary pressures continued to rise in the services sector in July, surveys of business executives showed Wednesday.
The prices index of the Institute for Supply Management’s survey of executives in services businesses rose to 82.3 percent, up 2.8 percentage points and the highest level for its price index since 2005. “Costs have risen dramatically in the last 45 days. Lodging, fuel, travel and supplies are all rising sharply. Costs for available labor are also rising, as demand increases in a diminished labor pool,” an executive in the construction industry said."
Global Phenomenon: This is not just a U.S. phenomenon. Almost all central banks, like heroin addicts, are sharing the same dirty needle. And so are central governments.
Spend… borrow… print. They spend to buy votes… and reward the elite who control the government. They borrow because they run out of money. And they print because if they had to rely only on what they could borrow honestly, interest rates would spike upwards, causing a panic and a depression.
This silly system probably would have already caused a lot more inflation, but for the hard work of the Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese, Mexicans, et al. They labored so cheaply that for three decades, it offset the inflationary policies of Western authorities. But now, wages in low-wage countries are rising, too. And that, combined with dumbhead trade wars and COVID-19 restrictions, is forcing up prices all over the planet.
Even the Teutons are not immune. MarketWatch reports: "German consumer prices climbed in July, confirming preliminary data, the German statistics office Destatis said Wednesday. Consumer prices rose 3.8% on year measured by national standards, in line with the forecast by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. They rose 3.1% on year by European Union-harmonized standards, also as forecast."
Misnomer: And while we don’t know what the inflation readings will be next month or next year… if they are higher still, we fully intend to say, “We told you so.” Because, between Delta variant panics, the Federal Reserve’s money-printing, and the spend-a-palooza on Capitol Hill, higher “inflation” rates will be hard to avoid. Here’s CBS News: "The Senate passed a budget resolution early Wednesday that lays the groundwork for Democrats’ massive $3.5 trillion spending package, capping a flurry of activity just hours after senators approved a separate $1 trillion infrastructure bill."
“Budget” is probably the wrong word. “Resolution” sounds off-key, too. “Budget” suggests self-discipline… and tradeoffs. It hints at limits… and that bad things will happen if you ignore them. Budget “busting” sounds like something you don’t want to do. None of those things seem to apply to the latest Senate whoopee moment. Funding (in fake money, of course) appears unlimited. No give-and-take is required. And nobody gives a damn if trillions of dollars are squandered on goofy projects.
Dirty Word: And the use of the word “resolution” is embarrassing. Resolute was the name of a 19th century British Royal Navy ship, which became trapped in the Arctic ice. By steadfast discipline and iron will, the crew survived two Arctic winters, skeletal rations, and a “hard march” across the ice to rescue ships.
A year later, in 1855, the abandoned Resolute was found drifting in an ice floe by an American whaler, whose captain recorded the discovery in his journal: "Finally, stealing over the side, they found everything stowed away in proper order for desertion – spars hauled up to one side and bound, boats piled together, and hatches closed. Everything wore the silence of the tomb. Finally reaching the cabin door they broke in, and found their way in the darkness to the table. On it they accidentally turned on a box of lucifer matches; in a moment one was ignited, the glowing light revealed a candle; it was lit and before the astonished gaze of these men exposed a scene that appeared to be rather one of enchantment than reality. Upon a massive table was a metal teapot, glistening as if new, also a large volume of Scott's family Bible, together with glasses and decanters filled with choice liquors. Near by was Captain Kellett's chair, a piece of massive furniture, over which had been thrown, as if to protect this seat from vulgar occupation, the royal flag of Great Britain."
The “resolute desk” was made from the stout oak timbers of the ship, and now sits in the White House Oval office. The Resolute story is one of manful determination and commitment to duty. It is the opposite of the budget “resolution” story, which bespeaks an almost incredible disregard for risk, a total lack of foresight, and wanton jackassery. It is a shame to sully such a stand-up word by using it to describe such irresolute action by the U.S. Senate."
"The Test..."
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Nothing is Being Done to Stop Inflation - Economic Freefall"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, AM 8/12/21:
"Nothing is Being Done to Stop Inflation - Economic Freefall"
"The biggest problem across the globe is inflation.
It will destroy businesses, cities and countries. What will stop it?"
○
Related:
Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 8/12/21"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/12/21:
"CITIGROUP Warns Again On The Stock Market"
○
Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/12/21:
"Now JP Morgan And Citigroup Are Warning On
The Stock Market - Is A Crash Imminent?"
Greg Hunter, "Biden Desperate as Vax Narrative Falls Apart - Clif High"
"Biden Desperate as Vax Narrative Falls Apart - Clif High"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Clif High uses something he calls “Predictive Linguistics” and computer programs to sort through billions of bits of information on the Internet to predict future trends and events. High is an Internet data mining expert who has many well-documented correct predictions. His latest correct prediction was made last month here on USAWatchdog when he said the Biden door knocking campaign to harass people to take the CV19 injection would be “short lived” and “not to worry about it.” Sure enough, the door knocking campaign unceremoniously stopped, and the Biden Administration has morphed this into the “get vaxed or get fired” campaign. What does High say now? “Again, this is short lived, and it is a propaganda campaign and not a legal move. They don’t have the legal authority to do what they are trying to do. What they are attempting to do is scare as many of the herd past that point of hesitancy before the whole thing is shut down,” says Clif High.
What about the FDA fast track approval for the CV19 Vax? The Biden Administration has been saying the CV19 vax will go from “Emergency Use Authorization” (experimental) to FDA approved even with more reported deaths than all vaccinations combined. High says don’t buy this. The CV19 jabs will never be approved. Clif explains, “There are legal prohibitions with an Emergency Use Authorization product. This is not approved by the FDA. As much as they are talking about it, I don’t think it will ever be approved by the FDA. I don’t think events will get that far for a lot of different reasons. This is a bluster. They are doing exactly what they did with the ‘get vaxed or get fired’ as they did with the ‘door to door’ campaign. This I know because of the nature of the linguistics that I run at its core for the emotional tension value of the data. I can tell you right now there is more mass and more energy in words that are anti-Covid vax than there are words and energy that are pro-Covid vax. This is a big problem for the mainstream media (MSM) as well as for the Biden regime. They probably are aware of what I am saying, and they realize they are underwater. If you polled, you would find that Covid is failing in the poll, and the vax is failing in the poll if you could get an accurate poll number. This is a move of desperation on their part and not a move of strength.”
The U.S. Military just said all personnel will be forced to be vaccinated with the CV19 vax. Once again, High says, “The military will not be forcing a vax on our troops.” High predicted this on the day of our interview, and the next day the military said it will give exemptions to anyone who does not want to get vaxed. In other words, there will be no forced vaccinations. That’s another correct prediction by High. Cliff High says, in short, “Don’t get vaxed.”
Clif High says there has been a covert war going on between the Deep State globalists and our own military. High says it’s all about to spill over into the streets for all to see. High says, “The United States has been attacked. I am going to echo Donald Trump’s words and say it is a greater attack than we suffered at Pearl Harbor. It’s greater than 9/11. This attack has initiated a war. We are in that war now. We are in a war that is going to bust out into the open such that everybody that lives in normal land will start to become aware of the massive amounts of things that have been hidden from them as well as the implications of this war. Our military is still occupied by the people that have infiltrated the United States. They came in and infiltrated, not invaded. We have two Presidents, and we have two militaries.”
Clif High goes into deep detail about this covert war that is about to get put out in the open for all to see. High talks about Mike Lindell and says that he will be remembered as a hero for working so hard on exposing the national voter fraud issues. High says there was massive fraud going all the way down to the local levels. High will also talk about Bitcoin and will tell you where it is going as well as gold and silver. High will explain why the “election steal” had to go through. He will talk about more data with the harmful effects of the CV19 injections. High talks about the good and bad news with President Donald Trump being restored to the White House. High will also cover mass treason in the USA and why many may end up in jail or worse for treason for helping China attack America.
This is an all-encompassing interview about where America stands now and where it is going according to the data Clif High is digging up."
Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with data mining expert Clif High, and he gives us an update as well as predicting future events and trends.
(Program Note: What is written here is a fraction of what is in this 1 hour and 24 min. interview. Because of the length of this in-depth interview, this will take the place of the Weekly News Wrap-Up on 8/13/21)
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
“The War On Your Economic Future Will Rob You - Enjoy The Party; Americans Have No Savings, Just Debt”
Jeremiah Babe, PM 8/11/21:
“The War On Your Economic Future Will Rob You - Enjoy The Party;
Americans Have No Savings, Just Debt”
"Shipping Crisis Is Starting To Get Crazy: Freight Rates Skyrocket As Container Inventory Collapses"
Full screen recommended.
"Shipping Crisis Is Starting To Get Crazy:
Freight Rates Skyrocket As Container Inventory Collapses"
by Epic Economist
"In less than a week, container freight rates registered one record high after the other, with new data showing another massive spike on the key Asia to US routes. Several companies have been struggling with the relentless rise in freight rates, shipping delays, and low container availability, which are all contributing to shortages of a wide range of products and acute consumer price increases. Freightos recently released a report indicating that rates from Asia to the US east coast topped the previous record of $20,000 and hit $22,000 yesterday, marking a 210 percent increase from last year's rates. Before the onset of the health crisis, rates on this route were below $3,000. Up until this point, the most cited reason why freight prices are trending so high was an unexpected rebound in consumer demand in the second half of 2020, especially for goods made in China and Asia for delivery in the US. The intensification of the online shopping trend has also fueled demand for overseas products. But manufacturers and retailers were caught by surprise, as they've predicted consumer spending would collapse due to the aggravation of the global economic recession.
With government stimulus checks on their hands, consumers spent money like never before. On the other hand, shipping companies have been unable to meet this inexorable uptick in demand, with the Texas storms and the blockage of the Suez Canal for almost a week adding to the chaos. However, according to supply chain liner giant Maersk, the latest increases in shipping rates cannot be justified by an uprise in consumer demand. In a detailed report, the company described that shippers and carriers are not unfamiliar with rising consumer demand, and before the health crisis struck, shipping companies were perfectly able to adapt to changing patterns, solve crises and find resilience. What is happening right now is totally unprecedented, but not mainly caused by the effects of the health crisis and shifting consumer trends. A labor shortage at ports is creating a huge backlog of containers in several key spots, and this congestion is worsening the container shortage. The demand boom was just one of the catalysts, but not the most important. Shippers and carriers just realized how essential is their service at a time global cargo demand is fast-growing, and now that they became aware that businesses are willing to pay premium rates, shipping costs may have changed forever.
Maersk showed on its quarterly performance report that overall container shipping demand was up only 2.7% in the second quarter as compared to the same period two years ago, prior to the global sanitary outbreak. And yet, Maersk’s average freight rate was $3,038 per forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU), and increase of 63% from $1,868 per FEU from the same period in 2019. Moreover, the Drewry World Container Index of spot rates hit $9,371 per FEU this week, 6.7 times what it was two years ago. In essence, port congestion is what is actually curtailing effective ocean freight capacity, with equipment stuck both on land and at sea. Last week, Maersk published a customer advisory titled, “Critical help needed -- congestion increasing.” The advisory purged U.S. companies to return shipping containers more quickly, stating: “We do not anticipate the congestion decreasing any time soon. On the contrary, the industry overall is forecasting higher U.S. volumes into early 2022 and beyond".
Port congestion is expected to start showing signs of improvement in 2022, but just if more effective capacity is added to meet demand growth. However, when that eventually occur, shipping rates might already have been consolidated at historically high prices. As for freight costs, companies will have to get used to them. They may pull back at some point, but not to levels they once were. Without no end in sight for port congestions, the bottlenecks are likely to continue for the foreseeable future. And any expectations that inflation would be "temporary" are going to be crushed by the persistent and acute price increases all over the economy. When the masses start to realize that the economic collapse is far from over, and when the slump starts showing its ravaging effects, it's safe to safe that it will be too late to reverse this crisis."
Musical Interlude: Alan Parsons Project, "Ammonia Avenue"
Full screen recommended.
Alan Parsons Project, "Ammonia Avenue"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. Centered on NGC 7814, the pretty field of view would almost be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy.
Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have extensive central bulges cut by a thinner disk with dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million light-years away and an estimated 60,000 light-years across. That actually makes the Little Sombrero about the same physical size as its better known namesake, appearing to be smaller and fainter only because it is farther away. A very faint dwarf galaxy, potentially a satellite of NGC 7814, is revealed in the deep exposure just below the Little Sombrero.”
Chet Raymo, "Starlight"
"Starlight"
by Chet Raymo
"Poor Calvin is overwhelmed with the vastness of the cosmos and no small dose of existential angst. He is not the first, of course. Most famously the 17th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal wailed his own despair: "I feel engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces whereof I know nothing and which know nothing of me. I am terrified...The eternal silence of these infinite spaces alarms me."
And he didn't know the half of it. Not so long ago we imagined ourselves to be the be-all and end-all of creation, at the center of a cosmos made expressly for us and at the pinnacle of the material Great Chain of Being. Then it turned out that the Earth was not the center of the cosmos. Nor the Sun. Nor the Galaxy. The astronomers Sebastian von Hoerner and Carl Sagan raised this experience to the level of a principle - the Principle of Mediocrity - which can be stated something like this: The view from here is about the same as the view from anywhere else. Or to put it another way: Our star, our planet, the life on it, and even our own intelligence, are completely mediocre.
Moon rocks are just like Earth rocks. Photographs of the surface of Mars made by the landers and rovers could as well have been made in Nevada. Meteorites contain some of the same organic compounds that are the basis for terrestrial life. Gas clouds in the space between the stars are composed of precisely the same atoms and molecules that we find in our own backyard. The most distant galaxies betray in their spectra the presence of familiar elements.
And yet, and yet, for all we know, our brains are the most complex things in the universe. Are we then living, breathing refutations of the Principle of Mediocrity. I doubt it. For the time being, Calvin will just have to get used to living in the infinite abyss and eternal silence. He has Hobbes. We have each other. And science. And poetry. And love."
The Universe
“There are no accidents. If it's appeared on your life radar, this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what's broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you're already the person you dreamed you'd become. There are no accidents. And believe me, that was one heck of a dream.”
“Tallyho,”
The Universe
“Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!”
Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet: Freedom”
“Freedom”
"And an orator said, “Speak to us of Freedom.”
And he (the prophet) answered:
" At city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself
and worship your own freedom, Even as slaves humble themselves before
a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Aye, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have
seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even
the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you,
and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your
nights without a want and a grief, But rather when these things
girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights
unless you break the chains
which you at the dawn of your understanding
have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains,
though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that
you may become free? If it is an unjust law you would abolish,
that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing
the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone,
see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud,
but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their own pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off,
that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel,
the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace,
the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished,
the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more,
the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters
becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom."
- Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet: Freedom”
"The Way Of Love..."
"The way of love is not a subtle argument.
The door there is devastation.
Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling, they're given wings."
- Rumi
“Embracing Life-Affirming Death Awareness: How to Transform Yourself and Possibly Save Human Civilization”
“Embracing Life-Affirming Death Awareness:
How to Transform Yourself and Possibly Save Human Civilization”
By Fred Branfman
“I never want to forget the prospect of death. Because, if I am ever able to block out those emotions, I will lose the sense of purpose and focus that cancer has given my own life."
— Hamilton Jordan, "No Such Thing as a Bad Day"
"My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. The country (is) caught up in moral decay. (Our leaders) must speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul."
— Lee Atwater, "Life" Magazine, 1991
When he was 55, a newspaper mistakenly printed an obituary of Alfred Nobel, condemning him for his invention of dynamite and stating "the merchant of death is dead." Nobel was so shocked that he created the Nobel Peace Prize.
When he was 41, Anthony Burgess, working unhappily in the British colonial service, was given a terminal diagnosis with one year to live. He quit, wrote five novels in the next year and 11 including “Clockwork Orange” by age 46.
After serving as Jimmy Carter's chief of staff, Hamilton Jordan contracted several cancers. He wrote in his memoir that cancer was "a strange blessing," and that "after my first cancer, even the smallest joys of life took on a special meaning."
His Republican counterpart Lee Atwater, known for such dirty tricks as claiming off the record that a political opponent "had been hooked up to jumper cables," contracted cancer and then apologized to Michael Dukakis for his "naked cruelty" in running the Willy Horton ad, and repudiated the "Reagan Revolution" he had done so much to create. He wrote in a 1991 Life magazine article, "what power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth. My illness has taught me something about the nature of humanity, love, brotherhood and relationships that I never understood, and probably never would have. So, from that standpoint, there is some truth and good in everything."
Former CEO Eugene O'Kelley wrote in “Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life”, that "the present felt to me like a gift. Living in it now, maybe for the first time, I experienced more Perfect Moments and Perfect Days in two weeks than I had in the last five years. (When a CEO) I had barely even considered limiting my office schedule. I wished I'd known then how to be and stay in the present, the way I now knew it."
These people are not alone. Countless lives have been transformed for the better over the centuries by breaking through their denial about their own deaths, whether due to a terminal diagnosis, surviving a serious illness or suicide, engaging in combat, having a serious accident, being a crime victim, or experiencing the death of a loved one.
Many people find their lives enriched by facing death voluntarily, not because they were forced to. In his famous Stanford commencement speech Steve Jobs said that since he was 17, "Remembering that I'll be dead soon (has been) the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life, don't be trapped by dogma, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
Let It Come: In the summer of 1990, I was directing “Rebuild America”, a think tank whose advisors included Larry Summers, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, and semiconductor inventor Robert Noyce, with Gov. Bill Clinton just having agreed to join as well. At 3am one night, I noticed a small fear of death arising, that I automatically pushed it away, and said to myself "Let it come!" I was plunged into the most painful experience of my life, as I felt I was disintegrating, followed by the most ecstatic moments I have ever known. The next morning I quit a sterile full-time politics that was burning me out, and embarked on a spiritual and psychological journey. After a time, I gradually returned to the world of social and political action, enriched and refreshed by my spiritual and psychological explorations.
One of my most moving experiences was spending several months with a psychologist named Jackie McEntee, after she had received a terminal diagnosis. She reported that the diagnosis was a wakeup call which led her to feel far more profoundly, deepened her relationship with her husband Bob, kids and community, and spend her time more purposefully and meaningfully. I asked whether she would rather have lived decades more as she had been living, or these few years as she was living now. She replied: "I call this my Year of Ecstasy. Sublime, incredible things have happened. That's why I wouldn't go back. Even though my previous life was good, it was not the bliss, the splendor, the ecstasy of how I live now."
I asked her what she felt her experience had to teach people who did not face a terminal diagnosis. "I think we need as a society to sustain death in our consciousness. Death is a reality by virtue of life. Our society has been in such a fog, evading death and dying, that I really think we don't live as fully because of that evasion. Well, I've learned to live fully now. And it's my deepest wish that everyone else will also—and without having to go through this kind of illness." That is a key question each of us faces. Do we want to wait for a terminal diagnosis, like Eugene O'Kelly or Jackie McEntee, before discovering that facing death could have transformed our lives for the better years earlier? Or do we wish to explore that question now?
There is no whitewashing the fact that feeling our sadness about our approaching deaths is more painful than defending against it. But, as adults, we can stand it. Doing so can release the enormous psychic energy we have been repressing, enriching our lives and leading to a far greater concern for those in need today and all who will follow us.
Feeling Our Sadness: The most important common feature of those whose lives have been enriched by facing their death is that they were willing to experience sadness and even intense pain about having to lose what they value in this life, and then used it as energy to transform their lives for the better. One could hear that sadness pulsating through the voice of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as he faced his own pain at social injustice and living under a daily threat of death. Sadness is the opposite of the closed, contracted state we call depression. As in the case of Dr. King, it can energize and activate, connecting people on a far deeper level than anger or outrage.
As Hamilton Jordan suggests, it is possible to "block out" much of the emotional pain that can arise even from a terminal diagnosis. We can use antidepressants, entertainment, constant activity, exercise, and a variety of other means to maintain the denial of death we have practiced since early childhood. As Jordan put it, "Nobody thinks too much on Desolation Row," especially about their own deaths, as long as they keep busy and occupied with other matters. But as he also found, daring to feel one's pain at the prospect of death can transform one's life.
I discovered this truth, to my amazement, when my life was transformed by facing my own eventual death at age 48. When the death anxiety I had been repressing burst to the surface I discovered that facing it, though painful, released enormous energy, appreciation for the preciousness of life, deep reservoirs of feeling I never knew existed, and a deep desire to contribute to the wellbeing of those who would follow me. Indeed, the more emotional pain I was consciously willing to feel about my death, the more truly alive, loving, empathetic and appreciative I felt. It was almost mathematical: more pain, more life; more life, more pain.
The key was to consciously bring my pain to the surface. We normally avoid doing so as much as possible, and only react with denial, anger, bargaining or depression when we must, which can make it much harder to handle. But when we choose to bring our sadness to the surface so as to release energy for life, as Hamilton Jordan and Lee Atwater found, it can enhance our experience of life in ways we never dreamed possible—and transform our attitudes toward political action as well.
Facing death openly does not necessarily, of course, lead to political action. The opposite is often true. Many people in their retirement years react to reminders of death by turning to meditation and other spiritual and religious practices. They feel they've done enough politically, and they pursue long-deferred creative projects, focus on their grandchildren, face health issues, care for their mates, or conserve their declining energy.
Much of this is healthy for the individual and society. Spiritually inclined, serene and peaceful elders who have moved beyond materialism and frenetic activity can serve as important role models for an America that badly needs to move beyond the "acquisition," frenetic activity and mindless materialism Lee Atwater so rightly decried. "Don't just do something, sit there," as Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein has written. If enough of us experienced “a touch of Enlightenment," the world would be a far better place.
Facing Our Deaths: Facing repressed death anxiety can benefit anyone at any age. In their book, "Beyond Death Anxiety: Achieving Life-Affirming Death Awareness", the psychotherapist Robert Firestone and Joyce Catlett explain how we first learn we will die between the ages of 3 and 8, and we automatically repress this frightening information. We continue this pattern as adults, rarely reexamining whether it make sense to continue this denial of our death, although we now have the tools to handle it.
They explain how our unconscious death anxiety influences every aspect of our adult lives, including our relationships and our sexuality. We often either unconsciously distance ourselves because true intimacy is so painful, or we violently turn against our partners when we realize they will not be the saviors we imagined. Our anxiety about death affects our child-rearing, as we often partly have children because we wish to live on through them, and then seek to control them so they will be the kind of "immortality vehicle" we seek. Death anxiety also lies at the heart of much of the midlife crisis many undergo, and explains many of our social behaviors as well. We identify with religious, ethnic or national "immortality vehicles" (USA! USA! USA!), because if the "other" triumphs, our own will fail. These processes are unconscious, which is why they have so much power.
The importance of Firestone and Catlett's work is that it is not based upon theory but the actual lived experience of a group of over 100 friends who have broken through much of the death-denial and openly discuss their death anxiety on a regular basis. This experience indicates, first of all, that people can bear it—while painful, surfacing repressed death anxiety does not destroy one's equilibrium, but enhances it. They have discovered that sharing their sadness together is a positive, life-enhancing experience. It also leads to greater empathy and compassion for each other and for the world as a whole.
Gifts of Death Awareness: Reports by people whose lives have been transformed by facing their own deaths reveal what might be called the gifts of death awareness. Examples of these gifts include:
• Increased aliveness and vitality: Feeling sadness about our mortality can release enormous reservoirs of psychic energy, aliveness and vitality that is otherwise wasted on repressing our death-feelings.
• A wider range of feeling: We cannot repress painful feelings without repressing joyful ones as well. Death awareness can widen and deepen our feelings. We find we can stand the painful feelings we have spent a lifetime avoiding. We open up new vistas of love, appreciation, tenderness, joy, compassion, and empathy.
• Deeper relationships: When we deny our pain about our own death and those of loved ones, we often unconsciously pull away from intimacy. Repressing feelings not only deadens us, but causes us to shrink from the pain that true closeness brings. Consciously facing death can lead to deeper intimacy and love for those closest to us. A friend recently wrote me about attending a funeral and sitting with the sister of the deceased, weeping side by side without saying anything for 15 minutes. It was their most intimate interaction in a decade, and it forged a lifelong bond between them.
• Increased life-purpose and passion: Like Hamilton Jordan, Steve Jobs and countless others, facing the shortness of time we have left often leads to a greater sense of purpose and focus. Our passion is increased, as we realize that with the time we have left we will create what we wish to create, and enjoy our most precious experiences.
• Wider perspective: People facing death commonly report that they gain a greater sense of perspective, are less prone to petty fears, slights, jealousies, and anxieties, and have their sights raised to issues of meaning and the human condition. Facing our mortality broadens our perspective.
• Great lucidity and sanity: When one becomes exposed to death, often when parents die, many experience a painful but somehow liberating sense of clarity and sanity. As I was flying back to New York from Florida after my father's death, I found myself writing these words: "I have been living as if I will never die, which is a lie. And to live a lie is not really to live at all."
• Greater creativity: Increased passion often brings greater creativity. As Steve Jobs noted, death-awareness can lead us to commit to following our own path and not be trapped by the opinions of others.
• Greater compassion and empathy: Death awareness can lead us to focus on what we have in common with our fellow beings. It is not only that we are all going to die, but that we are all facing similar difficulties in dealing with this fact. As we become more feeling, our compassion can also deepen and extend to millions who suffer unnecessarily.
• The courage to be vulnerable: Though we tend to see courage as involving strength, decisiveness and risk-taking, the greater bravery is daring to feel and display our vulnerability. Facing death leads to a softer and more feeling appreciation of life and closer relationships with those around us.
• Gratitude, appreciation and awe: Experiencing our vulnerability as creatures who will die can lead to the most precious possible experiences of appreciation and awe that life even exists, let alone that we have been privileged to participate in it. It is precisely because our time with loved ones, or our opportunity to experience life, is so limited that it is so precious.
• Greater aesthetic appreciation: Death awareness opens us up to the beauty of life in space and in time. We become more aware of fleeting and infinitely precious moments of beauty.
• Spiritual openings and the experience of oneness with life: Death awareness can lead to unmediated, direct spiritual experiences in which the personal ego dissolves and we experience a sense of oneness with all life, including the countless humans who have preceded us and those who will follow us.
• Greater concern for preserving civilization for future generations: Such death-influenced spiritual experiences can lead to a greater commitment to saving human civilization for our offspring and all who will follow us.
Exploring Life-Affirming Death Awareness: Words are cheap and only useful if they encourage us to experiment for ourselves whether they might be true. This is particularly true for an issue like whether to surface our sadness about death, which goes against the habits of a lifetime. The following exercises are meant to help us explore how we wish to respond to the fact of our eventual deaths. Many of us have never consciously considered this question as adults, continuing the denial of our feelings that we first learned as kids. But we may find now that exploring this issue can enrich and revitalize our lives, as well as all society.
These explorations are intended to help explore two basic issues: 1) feeling rather than denying painful feelings about our eventual death; 2) using these feelings as energy to live with more purpose and compassion. These exercise tend to yield the deepest results if they are preceded by some minutes of quiet reflection.
1. Focus on what unites us. Pick a time-period—a few hours, a day, longer—in which you focus on what you have in common with each person you see or interact with, whether you know them or not. They, like you, are going to one day die; they, like you, are confused and frightened by this knowledge, and tend to think or feel about it as little as possible; and they, like you, may have a dull look in their eyes, or rigid expression on their face, partly because they are using up precious psychic energy to repress their death anxiety.
Note what you are feeling as you engage in this exercise, particularly any feelings of compassion or empathy for yourself or others. How does this exercise make you feel? Does this exercise in any way change how you feel toward others? Perhaps extend this exercise by meeting with people you normally dislike or disagree with, and note whether any change in your normal feelings arise as a result.
2. Appreciate a last meal or walk. Set aside a time when you can eat a meal alone in a quiet place, and imagine it is the last meal you will ever eat. Eat slowly, noting each smell, how each component of the meal tastes, everything it took for this meal to reach you, from the life of the animal or plant involved to the apparatus—farmer, transport, supermarket, etc.—required to get this food to you. Note your feelings at the prospect that this will be the last meal you will ever eat in this lifetime.
Set a time to take a walk, imagining it is the last walk you will ever take on this earth. Walk extremely slowly, taking the time to smell every smell, hear every sound, see every sight. Note the feelings that arise, whether sadness that you will never have this experience again, or gratitude that you have been able to have this experience of life. As you return to daily life, reflect on whether these experiences change how you might want to eat or take walks from here on out.
3. Appreciate the preciousness of life. Reflect upon those experiences of life you most value at this point in your life, perhaps making a list of them in order, e.g. your experiences of loved ones, travel, learning, contributing, nature, art, and so on and so forth.
Now notice the feelings that emerge as you go through the list, and imagine never being able to have those experiences again. Note where the feelings of sadness, loss or worse, are most intense. Although you are likely to experience a range of feelings, including a distancing from feeling, focus on any feelings of sadness that arise as you understand dying as losing the experiences of life that you most value. Reflect on what your sadness tells you about the parts of your life you value most, your deepest regrets, your deepest desire for developing the qualities you desire, your relationship to the violence and injustice of the world, the unfinished business of your life, internal and external.
4. Appreciate loved ones and friends. Pick a moment when you can gaze upon a loved one or close friend. Either with eyes closed or open, imagine her head as the skull it will be, her body as the skeleton it will become after she dies. Feel the sadness, the pain of it. Now return to the present, feel your love for her, your appreciation of the fact that you can have this experience of her. Note your feelings of appreciation for the fact that you can now experience her, the preciousness of this opportunity to know, interact with and love her.
5. Feel valued by society. Imagine that you had died today and were reading your obituary in the newspaper. Write out what you imagine it might say. Imagine you have another 10 years to live, and then write out your obituary as you would like it to appear then. Conclude by noting the key changes you need to make in your life so as to have your obituary read as you would like it to a decade from now.
6. Set priorities, inner and outer. Imagine that you are on your deathbed, looking back on your life. (This exercise is best conducted while lying on your back, in a dark room, in the actual position you are most likely to be in while facing your actual end.) Note the outer events—your accomplishments, impact on your kids, grandkids, community, America, the world—that are the most meaningful to you at this point. Note the inner events that are most meaningful—ways in which you developed internally, touching experiences with loved ones, friends, nature, the cosmos, moments of spiritual transcendence, etc. Note which kinds of experiences are the most meaningful, inner and outer, past and present, or the impact your life will have after you have gone. Note your feelings about the state of the world you are leaving behind.
Think of those people who have wronged you whom you wish to forgive, or those from whom you wish to ask forgiveness. Perhaps write letters to the most important ones. After conducting this exercise, reflect on whether the thoughts and feelings you had have any implications for how you want to lead your life from here on out. Did you note any enhanced experiences of aliveness and energy, compassion or love for yourself or others, the world, greater serenity, a greater sense of direction and life-purpose, a greater concern for the environment and the world you are leaving behind, a deeper sense of spirituality and connection to all things?
7. Looking backward, looking forward. Reflect on the next 10 years of your life— the people with whom you will interact, the places you will visit, the countless feelings you will experience, and so forth. Reflect upon how long these 10 years seem, how rich the many experiences you will have. Now reflect back on the last 10 years of your life, note how it all seems to have passed in an instant.
Now imagine that you are on your deathbed, looking back on the time between now and when you die. Reflect on how it, too, will seem to have passed in an instant. Reflect on any implications this may have for how you want to live from here on out, whether it helps illuminate what is and isn't important to you, whether it seems to call for an increased commitment to any sort of activities or experiences, and so forth.
8. The precious shortness of life. Imagine your doctor has just told you that you have three years to live in full possession of your health, after which you will decline precipitously and die. Reflect on what you imagine your priorities, internal and external, would be if you knew you had but three more years to live. Would you change anything about your present life? Relationships? External projects? Inner development? Would you live with greater purpose and waste less time? Would you devote yourself to artistic creation, travel or political activity? How would your relationships with people change? Then imagine that your doctor tells you he was mistaken, and you can look forward to a normal lifespan. If you would have lived differently if you had only three years to live, does this have any implications for your future now?”
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