Sunday, November 10, 2024

"The Invitation"

"The Invitation"

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have
become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,
without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own,
if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,
to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself;
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul;
if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty,
every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone,
and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like
the company you keep in the empty moments."

- Oriah Mountain Dreamer

"I Realized..."

"Lifes impermanence, I realized, is what makes every
single day so precious. It's what shapes our time here.
It's what makes it so important that not a single moment be wasted."
- Wes Moore

"Carlo M. Cipolla‘s Theory of Stupidity"

Full screen recommended.
"Carlo M. Cipolla‘s Theory of Stupidity" 

"In this video, we dive into The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity by economist Carlo M. Cipolla - a thought-provoking exploration of how irrational actions shape our world. Cipolla’s five laws reveal the surprising impact that stupidity has on individuals and society at large. Far from being just a lack of intelligence, stupidity is a pervasive, unpredictable force that disrupts our lives in ways we often underestimate. Join us as we break down each of Cipolla’s laws, from the unexpected prevalence of stupidity to its devastating effects when left unchecked. Discover why stupidity is more dangerous than malice, how it crosses all social boundaries, and why it’s more powerful than we might think. Whether you want to protect yourself or simply understand human behavior better, this video offers crucial insights on how to navigate a world often influenced by the irrational."
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. Thanks for stopping by!

"Thousands Of Russian Troop & Weapons Land in Iran – Israel Faces All-Out Catastrophe"

Full screen recommended.
Douglas MacGregor, 11/10/24
"Thousands Of Russian Troop & Weapons Land in Iran –
 Israel Faces All-Out Catastrophe"
Comments here:
o
Related:
Prof. Mohammad Marandi, 11/10/24
"Israel's Defense Shattered by 
Hezbollah's New Iranian Super Missiles"
Comments here:
o
"Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern: Israel's Defense 
Destroyed by Iran's Missiles - Hezbollah Crushing IDF"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "They are Still Counting Votes - Shocking Election Delays"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 11/10/24
"They are Still Counting Votes -
 Shocking Election Delays"
"The election that never ends. Today we are diving into the shocking election delays here in California! In this video, we uncover the ongoing election saga with the Orange County Register of Voters, where volunteers are tirelessly verifying signatures. Can you believe they're still counting votes days later? It's a wild scene, filled with unexpected twists and turns, including bomb threats that caused disruptions. As we explore the ins and outs of the process, from signature verification to ballot duplication, you'll get an insider's look at this chaotic yet crucial civic duty."
Comments here:

"'Life Doesn’t Owe Anyone a Damn Thing'; or 'Handle Hard Better'"

"'Life Doesn’t Owe Anyone a Damn Thing'; 
or 'Handle Hard Better'"
by Justin Smith

“We all wait in life for things to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better. That’s what happens. Most people think that it’s going to get easier. Life is going to get easier. Basketball is going to get easier. School is going to get easier. It never gets easier. What happens is you become someone who handles hard stuff better. And if you think life when you leave college is going to all of a sudden get easier because you graduated, and you got a Duke degree, it’s not going to get easier. It’s going to get harder. So make yourself a person that handles hard well.” ~ Kara Lawson, Head Coach for Duke University Women’s Basketball Team and Graduate of the University of Tennessee [July 5th 2022]

An incredible number of Americans today have been coddled, pampered and fed a sense of entitlement from birth that continued into their early adulthood, making them always look to others or the government for help in acquiring their needs and wants. They have been raised without a backbone, weak-willed and dependent; and so, whenever they find themselves to be in a minority, they more often than not petition the federal and state governments, protest and riot, in order that their particular concerns are proactively pursued and implemented as favored, privileged and superior, no matter how insane, from destroying humanity by way of transgenderism or energy and job-killing fallacious “climate change” policies.

From my earliest memories, I saw hard men, laughing, loving, fighting hard and playing just as hard, as they’d rise each day to head out to work, in the mines, the forests, office buildings and on the nation’s lines of defense, and in particular I recall learning something of worth from each of them, much as I did from my Granddad Spurge, who was a coal miner and a stone mason. They were a hardy bunch of industrious scrappers, who pulled up their sleeves and worked hard to make a better life for themselves and their children, to build better communities, a better America.

But what passes for young “men” today is but a mere shadow of men of worth from better days gone by, what with their feminine appearances and their aversion to doing anything to break a sweat. And aside from weak bodies, too much coddling has made their minds work in a new, cunning devious manner, in which they waste enormous amounts of effort sidestepping real work and figuring out how to get something for nothing rather than perform an honest day’s work to pay for bills they make, without any intention of ever repaying, such as student loans.

Half of America seems content to allow Uncle Sam to make life better for them and their children via the welfare system and the government cheese, even tho’ it means a life of subsistence, just scraping by. Although today, many have developed gaming the system into a real art, whereby they live just about as good as anyone working a full-time job, complete with HUD homes, EBT cards, late model cars, color T.V.s and government purchased cellphones.

Life doesn’t owe any of us a thing, regardless of the circumstances and station of our birth. The miracle of your birth alone doesn’t mean you are automatically owed a job, a house, a bed or a single meal after you are a grown adult and supposedly capable of doing for yourself. You’re not owed recognition and understanding for simply existing, and neither are you owed success and comfort, abundance and happiness or immunity from the problems, pain and suffering that is simply a part of the human condition, and you certainly aren’t due any money you haven’t earned through your own sweat and effort, not from me, the American taxpayers or the U.S. government.

The only thing anyone should expect from The Government, if we are to accept the Contract found in our Constitution, are those things enumerated in its original form, and in that sense, we are owed a strong, affirmative and fierce defense of our Inalienable God-given Rights, as expressed and defined in the Bill of Rights, to be left alone to our own devices to live and thrive as free born Americans, without interference from The Government and its agents where no real harm is being done.

People aren’t created equal in the very real definition of the word and life has never been fair to anyone, and yet, the constant refrain heard all across all levels of American society today, from the ranks of the Mau Mau Marxist-Maoist totalitarians, those lovers of “democracy”, is “the world is so unfair”. They were evidently raised to believe “all men are created equal” in the context of the Declaration of Independence meant they are somehow guaranteed equal outcomes in everyday life, instead of the simple “equality under the law” as intended. And their voices are now amplified by an out-of-control regime that seeks to use their envy to complete the fundamental transformation of America, by any means necessary, no matter how unconstitutional or illegal they might be and are currently proving to be.

Standing on one’s own two feet and making your way through the merit of your own knowledge and work are now a thing of the past, as the poorest results in school and on the job are given the same weight and worth as the best and everybody gets a participation trophy. And in its place, envy, greed, sloth, gluttony, lies, sex and murder, the destroyer of worlds, are the rule, for a generation indoctrinated through Marxist-Maoist multiculturalist doctrine and propaganda, taught from kindergarten through university, who are now driven by an unhinged hate and anger directed at white society and capitalism.

This, in part, is the reason we see whole cities, controlled by the Marxist-Maoists and the totalitarian minded, enacting new “laws” that make the theft of anything $900 or less a misdemeanor, giving way to thousands of groups of poorly taught, undisciplined, predominantly black “youths” rampaging, rioting and looting numerous times a day, taking $900 dollars worth of merchandise nine times a day, if not more, taught racism and hatred and driven by envy and greed. It’s the reason cities across America are folding up, shriveling like a crop attacked by locusts and dying on the vine where once they thrived, back when our people, indeed our youth, had more pure hearts and moral directions and had not strayed far and away from America’s Christian roots.

Over the past thirty years, the nutcases of the Democrat Party have advocated a pathologically negative agenda for America that is based on destroying the Founding and revising history to portray early America as evil and worth casting on the ash-heap of history. Accelerating their plans through the public education system, an entire generation of America’s youth have been brainwashed to believe our planet is dying due to manmade CO2 and “climate change”, in defiance of actual science, and as if that isn’t enough, we are all constantly inundated with one alarm after another raised over racism — even as reverse racism against whites is now advocated, capitalism — which hasn’t really existed in America for over 100 years, homophobia / gender bigotry, capitalist oppression — even tho’ our system is economic fascism, and the fallacious assertion that White Supremacist Nazis are ascending in every community in America.

The real problem found within the ranks of the Takers? They just can’t face the fact that life isn’t easy for anyone, especially the Makers; and it never has been, although exceptions can be found in those born into wealth. But even the wealthy are weighted with life’s problems, if of a different variety, much as the old adage says that “money can’t buy you love or happiness”, even if it does buy you a line of coke and hookers, in a sad sort of dystopian world of a different immoral construct.

The routines many of us indulge in daily have made the largest percentage of Americans, a fairly large majority, complacent and apathetic, caring next to nothing on matters of government and whether or not they are actually living free.

Americans rise each morning, check their emails and cellphones, shower, shave and maybe brush their teeth, to rush off to their same, everyday, boring regular job that may or may not quite pay the bills, grabbing their $7 dollar cup of Starbucks special latte of the day, to do a job they find meaningless. At day’s end, they may grab some overpriced fast-food on the way home, to relax and maybe drink a cheap beer or glass of whiskey, while they watch The Voice — or is it porn [?] — call some friends to complain over how bad things are, and then simply watch some news, ’til they call it a night, sleeping fitfully and rising the next morning to do it all over again, and everyday afterward, year after year, until one day someone hands them their walking papers or a copper watch upon their “retirement”.

Too many live under the delusion that they should be able to drive brand new $60k cars, own $400k homes complete with the most exquisite adornments and furniture on their $15 per hour paycheck at McDonald’s, having never put forth the effort to gain useful knowledge demanded by skilled and professional career positions, in order to make themselves more valuable to society on the whole, and thus able to demand a salary that would allow them to buy all the trappings of such success. Instead, they cast an envious eye in the direction of the Makers and scheme on how to take what they want, by any scheme, any illegal act, any means necessary. They believe their mere existence entitles them to other people’s property, just because deep down in their black little souls, they really, really want it — just not enough to go after it the right way.

Our youth have lost all sense of shame and seem fine with getting anything they want, right when they want it, no matter how they come to acquire it. They never learned that something worth having is worth the work it takes to purchase, as if stuff is just supposed to fall from the heavens and land in their lap.

Things of real worth don’t come easy.

Sure. Not everyone has the intelligence and capability to become a surgeon, but if that’s your dream, you will never know if you could have been one, until you try — same for anything else that any of you are dreaming of being, no matter if you dream of being a content farmer or a successful writer. Whatever you want in life, put forth the effort to achieve competency in that field and then go do it.

If you want something of worth in life, stop depending on others. Venture out on your own in some business or capacity you love, rather than settling to work for someone else your entire life. And for your own sake, quit wallowing in self-pity over bad circumstances created by your own bad choices.

As Ms Lawson notes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDzfZOfNki4) at one point: "Any pursuit in life, if you want to be successful, it goes to the people that handle hard well. Those are the people that get the stuff they want. People that wait around for easy, you probably see them at the bus stop. They’re waiting on the easy bus to come around. Easy bus never comes around. Go handle hard.”

Too many parents, too many schools, too many churches have failed America by failing to teach them that hard times won’t break you if only you have the right state of mind on life — that there is a loving God — and no one will ever find a fulfilling or positive way of life by looking to The Government for answers and solutions. Our society stopped teaching the youth how to be strong and independent somewhere along the way, as the tyrant-wannabes persisted in teaching “everyone is a victim”; but the fact remains today, anyone can be a proud survivor of hard times, if only they persevere and never give-up and never give-in to defeat, choosing to ultimately succeed and live good, prosperous and happy lives."

How It Really, Shamefully, Is"

 

What an absolute disgrace... but anymore, what isn't?

"Oliver Sacks on Despair and the Meaning of Life"

"Oliver Sacks on Despair and the Meaning of Life"
by Maria Popova

"Meaning is not something we find - it is something we make, and the puzzle pieces are often the fragments of our shattered hopes and dreams. “There is no love of life without despair of life,” Albert Camus wrote between two World Wars. The transmutation of despair into love is what we call meaning. It is an active, searching process - a creative act. Paradoxically, we make meaning most readily, most urgently, in times of confusion and despair, when life as we know it has ceased to make sense and we must derive for ourselves not only what makes it livable but what makes it worth living. Those are clarifying times, sanctifying times, when the simulacra of meaning we have consciously and unconsciously borrowed from our culture - God and money, the family unit and perfect teeth - fall away to reveal the naked soul of being, to hone the spirit on the mortal bone.

The poetic neurologist Oliver Sacks (July 9, 1933–August 30, 2015) - who thought with uncommon rigor and compassion about what it means to be human and all the different ways of being and remaining human no matter how our minds may fray - takes up this question of life’s meaning in one of his magnificent collected "Letters" (public library).

In his fifty-seventh year, Sacks reached out to the philosopher Hugh S. Moorhead in response to his anthology of reflections on the meaning of life by some of the twentieth century’s greatest writers and thinkers. (Three years later, LIFE magazine would plagiarize Moorhead’s concept in an anthology of their own, even taking the same title.) Sacks - a self-described “sort of atheist (curious, sometimes wistful, often indifferent, never militant)” - offers his own perspective:

"I envy those who are able to find meanings - above all, ultimate meanings - from cultural and religious structures. And, in this sense, to “believe” and “belong.”
[…]
I do not find, for myself, that any steady sense of “meaning” can be provided by any cultural institution, or any religion, or any philosophy, or (what might be called) a dully “materialistic” Science. I am excited by a different vision of Science, which sees the emergence and making of order as the “center” of the universe."

It is in this 1990 letter that Sacks began germinating the seeds of the personal credo that would come abloom in his poignant deathbed reflection on the measure of living and the dignity of dying thirty-five years later. He tells Moorhead: "I do not (at least consciously) have a steady sense of life’s meaning. I keep losing it, and having to re-achieve it, again and again. I can only re-achieve (or “remember”) it when I am “inspired” by things or events or people, when I get a sense of the immense intricacy and mystery, but also the deep ordering positivity, of Nature and History.

I do not believe in, never have believed in, any “transcendental” spirit above Nature; but there is a spirit in Nature, a cosmogenic spirit, which commands my respect and love; and it is this, perhaps most deeply, which serves to “explain” life, give it “meaning.”

Nine years later, in a different letter to Stephen Jay Gould, he would take issue with the idea that there are two “magisteria” - two different realms of reality, one natural and one supernatural - writing: "Talk of “parapsychology” and astrology and ghosts and spirits infuriates me, with their implication of “another,” as-it-were parallel world. But when I read poetry, or listen to Mozart, or see selfless acts, I do, of course feel a “higher” domain (but one which Nature reaches up to, not separate in nature)."

A century and a half earlier, his beloved Darwin had articulated a similar sentiment in contemplating the spirituality of nature after docking the Beagle in Chile, as had Whitman in contemplating the meaning of life in the wake of a paralytic stroke - exactly the kind of physiological and neurological disordering Sacks studied with such passion and compassion for what keeps despair at bay, what keeps life meaningful, when the mind - that meeting place of the body and the spirit - comes undone. At the heart of his letter to Moorhead is the recognition that there is something wider than thought, deeper than belief, that animates our lives:

"When moods of defeat, despair, accidie and “So-what-ness” visit me (they are not infrequent!), I find a sense of hope and meaning in my patients, who do not give up despite devastating disease. If they who are so ill, so without the usual strengths and supports and hopes, if they can be affirmative - there must be something to affirm, and an inextinguishable power of affirmation within us. I think “the meaning of life” is something we have to formulate for ourselves, we have to determine what has meaning for us… It clearly has to do with love - what and whom and how one can love."

As if to remind us that the capacity for love may be the crowning achievement of consciousness, which is itself the crowning achievement of the universe, which means that we may only be here to learn how to love, he adds: "I do not think that love is “just an emotion,” but that it is constitutive in our whole mental structure (and, therefore, in the development of our brains)."

Complement this small fragment of Oliver Sacks’s wide and wonderful "Letters "with Rachel Carson on the meaning of life, Loren Eiseley on its first and final truth, and Mary Shelley - having lost her mother at birth, having lost three of her own children, her only sister, and the love of her life before the end of her twenties - on what makes life worth living, then revisit Oliver Sacks (writing 30 years before ChatGPT) on consciousness, AI, and our search for meaning and his timely long-ago reflection on how to save humanity from itself."
"Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to
 whether it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"Bravery..."

“There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater. But sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. That is the sort of bravery I must have now.”
- Veronica Roth, "Allegiant"

“You can't go back and change the beginning, 
but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
- C.S. Lewis

"A Recipe For Heroes And Saints"

"A Recipe For Heroes And Saints"
by Paul Rosenberg

"Rules and obedience have never elevated anyone to heroism and greatness., but I know what does, and I discovered it in the rubble of 9/11. I was scheduled to be in New York for a convention in early 2002, and sent an email to my old friend Jack. The text was along the lines of “Hey, I'm coming to NYC. Wanna get lunch?” His reply was simple: “Sure, but first I’d like you to come see my new project.”

Jack’s new project, as it turned out, was the restoration of the old New York Telephone building, now called the Verizon building. It was notched into the World Trade Center site, merely a few yards from the destroyed Building 7. This building was badly damaged on September 11th, but it didn't come down. And it was extremely important that it did remain in service: nearly every telephone line serving Wall Street ran through it.

Lessons from a Disaster Zone: It was a cool, rainy, hazy day. Fitting, I thought. Most of the debris had been removed by the time I arrived, which gave everyone on the job a clean view of what was missing, and how much work lay ahead.

Since Jack and I are old electrical guys, we began by examining the power systems. And thus began a day of epiphanies. Each new piece of information brought others to mind. Every fact implied a lesson. I was grateful to have a good memory; scribbling notes in the rain wasn’t going to work.

The first item on the agenda was the 13,000 volt electrical service to the building. It was running over an aluminum scaffold, inside of a plywood box. Now, you may be thinking that 13,000 volts on a metal scaffold doesn't sound very safe, and you would be right. There's no way this installation would be acceptable in any normal circumstances.

But in this case, there wasn't much choice. This was a disaster zone and an “approved” installation wouldn't be possible for months. (They couldn't even get the right kinds of wires.) So, the rules went out the window and Jack's crew had to come up with something that would work and that wouldn't kill anyone, or else Wall Street would shut and half of New York would have no telephones. The rules were simply overridden by reality. I couldn't help thinking of an old saying, attributed to the Dalai Lama:

"Learn the rules well, so you will be able to break them properly."

But the big story of the day came after our inspection. At lunch, Jack explained that after Building 7 fell initially on 9/11, other, partial, collapses continued for quite a while. Each time, clouds of dust and debris filled his Verizon building. On one particular day, the FBI vault in the basement of Building 7 caved in under the weight of yet another collapse. “And I swear to you, Paul,” Jack assured me with bulging eyes, “twenty- and fifty-dollar bills came floating through the site!” Free money... it's hard to imagine a better setup for a moral dilemma.

I made some comment about the guys being very happy that day. “No,” Jack said, “they wouldn't touch them!” I looked at him and waited for some elaboration. Finally he spoke up again. “They said 'that's not our money, it belongs to other people.' And they wouldn't touch it. They wouldn't allow anyone to touch it. It just sat there until the FBI guys came through and picked it all up.”

When the lure of free money fails, I pay attention. This was clearly no ordinary event. Here were dozens of construction workers who refused to take free money – a lot of free money – when there was no enforcer looking over their shoulders or threatening them. I looked at Jack again. He was stone serious; as serious as I have ever seen him.

So I was left facing a pointed question: A significant group of construction workers were turned into paragons of ethics, but exactly why? Obviously it was the change of situation that mattered, not the basic nature of the men; one's nature does not change in a moment.

Then I understood: These men had never lacked a basic decency, what they had lacked was moral clarity. This was the first time in their lives when the difference between right and wrong was this clear. Holding a clear vision of right and wrong, it would have been stupid for these men to take $50 bills belonging to others – their conscious sense of righteousness was worth far more.

For the rest of their lives, these men will know that when it counted, they stepped up to the task and performed it with honor. And I would bet large that, on their death beds, this fact will pass prominently through their minds. They will feel honorable, and they will have earned it.

What this Means: This means that while the fear of penalties may restrain people from certain actions, it is moral clarity that makes them actually good. I know that we've all been taught to freeze up at questions about good and evil, but it really isn't hard. Here’s all the answer you really need, in two very simple statements:

What is hateful to you, don't do to anyone else.
Do not encroach upon anyone or their property, and keep your agreements.

Number one is the Golden Rule, and number two is the essence of the common law - more or less an extension of #1. And that's all that we really need. Sure, a professional philosopher can come up with weird exceptions, but that's not a serious concern. Send the one-in-a-million scenario to a specialist and get busy with the other 999,999. Yes, life is complex, but that's no reason to say “we can't know right from wrong.” Act with integrity and I guarantee you'll do the right thing 99% of the time.

The Lesson: The events of 9/11 were obviously very stark, and we certainly don't want to rely on such things to set our moral compass. But, the lesson is clear: It is moral clarity that turns us into heroes and saints. So, if you want to see good conduct, talk about integrity, self-honesty, and the courage to make individual judgments. If you want to feel good about yourself, cultivate these in yourself. Require them of your children. Oppose people who try to cloud moral choices.

I leave you with a few lines from a song called "The Hero", by David Crosby:

"And the reason that she loved him,
 was the reason I loved him too. 
He never wondered what was right or wrong, 
he just knew, he just knew."

Jeremiah Babe, "Hollywood Is Collapsing, People Are Waking Up"

Jeremiah Babe, 11/9/24
"Hollywood Is Collapsing, People Are Waking Up; 
Government Workers About To See Mass Layoffs"
Comments here:

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Musical Interlude: Peder B. Helland, "Beautiful Relaxing Music - Calming Piano & Guitar Music"

Full screen recommended.
"Beautiful Relaxing Music - 
Calming Piano & Guitar Music"
"Beautiful relaxing music by Soothing Relaxation. Enjoy calming piano and
 guitar music composed by Peder B. Helland, set to stunning nature videos."

"A Look to the Heavens"

"To some, it looks like a giant chicken running across the sky. To others, it looks like a gaseous nebula where star formation takes place. Cataloged as IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula spans about 100 light years and lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Centaur (Centaurus). 
Click image for larger size.
The featured image, shown in scientifically assigned colors, was captured recently in a 12-hour exposure. The star cluster Collinder 249 is visible embedded in the nebula's glowing gas. Although difficult to discern here, several dark molecular clouds with distinct shapes can be found inside the nebula."

"In This World..."

"In this world, the thing people fear the most, and what pains people the most - is giving more than they receive. God forbid I cut off more of my fingernail for you than you cut from your fingernail, for me! Heaven forbid I hold my breath in longer while thinking about you, than the amount of time your breath is held in for me! Not a second longer! It is a sad fact of human nature that there you stand as an Infinite Soul and yet your greatest fear is not receiving from another person in proportion to what you give. Your viewpoint is low, your vision is clouded. You have become, in your eyes, a funny little drawing on the paper pad of the universe. Indeed, this race is yet to evolve. And yet, I am surrounded by such fear, to such a great extent that I begin to fear the same!"
- C. JoyBell C.

"Life Is Inconvenient...:

"One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire – then you’ve got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference."
- Robert Fulghum

"Social Unrest Has Already Started To Erupt, And This Is Just The Beginning…"

"Social Unrest Has Already Started To Erupt, 
And This Is Just The Beginning…"
by Michael Snyder

"If you think that the left is just going to sit back and accept Donald Trump’s victory, you must not have been paying attention for the past eight years. Trump is the most hated politician in modern American history, and prominent voices in the media continue to fuel that hate by making extremely inflammatory statements. For the moment, many on the left are still in a state of complete shock because they were entirely convinced that they were going to win this election. But once the shock wears off, we will see an explosion of anger, frustration and fury that is unlike anything we have ever seen before.

Unfortunately, we are already seeing signs of what is to come. For example, a man in Michigan has been arrested by authorities for planning an attack “against conservative Christians” because they supported Trump so strongly this election…"A 25-year-old Michigan man is facing federal charges after he allegedly threatened violence against conservative Christians over former President Donald Trump winning the presidential election. Isaac Sissel of Ann Arbor was arrested Tuesday morning and charged in a federal criminal complaint with making a threatening communication, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan."

Prosecutors said the FBI National Threat Operations Center in West Virginia received an anonymous online threat on Nov. 2, which included details about a planned attack. Apparently this particular individual was planning to use a stolen AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to hit a high profile target.

During the months ahead, churches all over America are going to need to pay extra attention to security, because there are a lot of extremely unbalanced people out there. Meanwhile, large protests against Trump have already begun. For example, last night there was a very loud protest outside of Trump’s hotel in Chicago…"Not even 24 hours after President-elect Donald Trump won more votes in Illinois this general election than in the previous two, and after winning the US election in a massive red wave sweep, far-left protesters gathered outside the Trump Hotel in Obama’s Chicago.

The protests appear to have been highly organized and well-planned before the election, given the coordination among activists, the hundreds - if not thousands - of protesters - many holding signs - and the likely pre-approved protest routes from City Hall. Organizers shouted into megaphones, “Trump is a fascist” and “racist,” echoing hate speech spewed by the defunct Harris-Walz campaign in the months leading up to November 5."

And there were also sizable protests in New York and Philadelphia…"NYU students have gathered near Cadman Plaza Park in New York to protest President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, chanting slogans like “NYU, your hands are red, over a hundred thousand dead!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.” Although the crowd is currently small, similar protests are unfolding in Chicago and Philadelphia." The synchronized timing of these demonstrations has raised speculation that organized funding may be behind the protests.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Just like in 2016, I expect that things will really start to get crazy once we get to Trump’s inauguration. Some on the left are anticipating open conflict once Trump gets in. The Washington Post has published a feature story about a former officer in the Capitol Police named Michael Fanone that seems to have gone nuts. He has run off to a compound in the woods, and he is fearing the worst from a Trump presidency…

"Michael Fanone leaped off the couch and lumbered toward his fridge, retrieving his fifth (or sixth?) beer. He glanced at the TV, took a sip of Sapporo and offered his first thought on a second Donald Trump presidency. “Better ******* arm yourselves.” Apparently Fanone is planning to die in his compound if there is any type of showdown with federal authorities…

"His tone was somehow both furious and serene. He saw this coming, and on Tuesday night some in America were starting to arrive at the place he’d already been living for the past 46 months. “I didn’t vote for that ************,” he said, “and I fought tooth and nail to prevent this day from ******* coming.”

He’d learned about more than 300 “deep state” enemies that Trump’s self-described “secretary of retribution” had compiled in a target list, as Raw Story first reported; Fanone says he saw his name on it. If Trump wants him imprisoned, he’d rather be killed in a shootout. “I’ll die right here on my ******* house,” he said. “I’m not going to be in some ‘Apprentice’ ******* military tribunal.” Fanone insists that he’s not some “prepper weirdo,” that he’s just someone who understands how law enforcement can be weaponized against people - “and I fully expect that to happen.”

Needless to say, Fanone is far from alone. There are millions of others just like him. Sadly, prominent voices just continue to ramp up the level of fear. If you doubt this, just consider something that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just said…“We are about to enter a political period of fascism and authoritarianism. It is not uncommon to jail political dissidents or legislative opponents.”

That is a completely and utterly insane statement. But there are lots and lots of people out there that eat this stuff up. On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow warned that Americans have chosen a “strongman, authoritarian system”…"Rachel Maddow is being mocked for her anti-Donald Trump monologue in which she warned the US was headed for an autocratic government after his resounding election victory. The MSNBC star claimed that the voter turnout for the Republican president-elect was evidence Americans had ‘let democracy go’ and opted for, a ‘strongman, authoritarian system’."

This sort of inflammatory rhetoric is extremely dangerous. But after eight years of saying such things, she certainly isn’t going to back down now. Maddow is also urging her followers to become “******** pirates” once Trump takes office…She likened the outcome to those seen in countries such as North Korea, Russia and China as she urged Democrats not to become, ‘despondent’. "Now we can work on being ******** pirates. We can work on being a thorn in the side to anyone who tries to turn this country into some tin-pot tyranny."

I understand that a lot of people may not want to hear this right now, but this story is not going to end well. Nearly half of this country hates Trump and absolutely detests the idea of being governed by him. All of the protest movements that we have seen in recent years will be dwarfed by what we will witness once Trump enters the White House. So enjoy the relative tranquility that we are experiencing at this moment, because it won’t last for long."

The Daily "Near You?"

Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, Germany. Thanks for stopping by!

"The Trick..."

 

"The Meaning of Life is Not Happiness"

"The Meaning of Life is Not Happiness"
by Todd Hayen

"I can’t tell you the number of times every day I hear from clients in my practice, “All I want is to be happy.” And they don’t know why they are not happy, they claim to be healthy, to have a good family, a good job that pays them lots of money, and a good marriage. Other than the usual ins and outs of life they really have nothing to complain about - but they are not happy. I then ask them if they think there is meaning in their life or purpose, invariably they say “No.” Sometimes they ask, “What is that? Isn’t the meaning and purpose in life to be happy?” No, it is not.

Happiness is only one of the many states of being we encounter in a whole and complete life, and if we become unhappy simply because we think we are not happy as often as we believe we should be, we have missed the point.

We have been on this “happiness” kick for quite some time, and once again I have to say I think it is part of the agenda - maybe originally an unconscious part of a movement in society to focus on acquiring “things.” But that has always been a central part of the formula in the agenda’s effort to control.

Again, maybe it was an organic result of our natural tendency to focus on the flesh—the physical attributes of living through the senses, and an innate desire to “instantly gratify” those senses at any opportunity offered. Check out Huxley’s "Brave New World" for a view of a dystopian culture in the future that focuses entirely on the satisfaction of primal urges through the senses. Huxley had it figured out almost 100 years ago.

There have been scads of books written on happiness. Most of them conclude that the pursuit of happiness through the acquisition of physical objects (consumerism) is a dead-end pursuit, and, like a shot of heroin, will send you on a high for a moment that quickly wears off. Most people have some idea of this and understand that obsessive consumerism is typically a road to oblivion.

But again, a lot of people have not figured this out yet (need I say “young people?”), considering our entire society is based on consumerism. Try getting away from it for even 10 minutes. If you don’t go out into the woods or barren desert with no cell phone, you won’t be able to. That is about the only way to detach yourself from the world that is trying to entice you to consume.

So, even if we could remove the curse of consumerism and instant gratification from our lives, wouldn’t our central pursuit still be the state of happiness? - continual happiness? Yes, typically it would be. Even deep spiritual interventions have the goal of happiness - if you are one with God, or Jesus, or Mohammed, you will be happy. Shouldn’t the word “happy” be replaced with “content” or even “peace?” It certainly should be, because that is what I believe most of the religious traditions mean by the word “happiness.” “Contentment” and “peace” have very different meanings to “happy.”

If we are fully enlightened, are we even allowed to be happy? Of course, we are. Being happy is one of the most precious gifts of being a living creature. Should we expect to be happy all of the time? No, of course not. That would be a curse. Should we expect to be content or at peace all of the time? Yes, I believe that is indeed possible and should be a goal we all strive to attain.

I spent a large part of my life studying the works of Ernest Holmes and "The Science of Mind". I studied Phineas Quimby, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Joel Goldsmith and others as well. The surface level of what I gleaned from this study was to “think positively” - to avoid focusing on darkness in the world and see only God’s love and beauty as reality.

What is found in the depth of these philosophies is quite a different matter. I will not go into this in this article as it would take a book to even begin to explain what I mean. Suffice it to say that the true message behind all of this is that the material world is a manifestation of our thought and consciousness - and is not the only reality.

However, my view is that as long as we are in the material form, living in a material creation, we have to encounter the manifestation of evil, darkness, and suffering - not ignore it. Part of our purpose and meaning in this world is to deal with everything we encounter, not turn away from any of it. Therefore, for a large portion of our lives, we may not be happy.

Dealing with darkness is not typically a happy endeavour, however, it doesn’t mean we cannot be at peace and be content when we are dealing with it. Darkness, suffering, and pain are but an “appearance” - an illusion - in the material realm. Through this illusion, we may even find meaning, and purpose, as we deal with the darker sides of life and existence.

Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor offered a profound critique of the view that happiness is the ultimate meaning of life. In his seminal work, "Man’s Search for Meaning," Frankl argued that life’s true meaning is found not in the pursuit of happiness but in the pursuit of meaning. Having survived the horrors of concentration camps, Frankl observed that those who endured suffering and still found a reason to live, did so by finding a sense of purpose, not by chasing happiness. He developed the concept of “logotherapy,” a therapeutic approach that emphasizes the human desire to find meaning in life, even in the most challenging circumstances.

Frankl believed that humans are not driven primarily by the search for pleasure or happiness, but by the need to find meaning in their experiences. He argued that people can endure tremendous suffering if they have a sense of purpose to guide them.

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how,” Frankl wrote, quoting Nietzsche. According to Frankl, meaning can be found in work, love, suffering, and even in facing death. Happiness, in his view, is not something to be pursued directly; rather, it ensues when individuals live in alignment with their values and pursue meaning.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian writer and dissident who chronicled the horrors of the Soviet Gulag, similarly questioned the notion that happiness is life’s primary objective. In his works, such as "The Gulag Archipelago" and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," Solzhenitsyn explored themes of suffering, totalitarian oppression, and the human capacity for endurance. Like Frankl, Solzhenitsyn saw meaning in suffering and responsibility rather than in the pursuit of happiness.

Solzhenitsyn argued that life is about more than personal joy or comfort. In his famous Harvard Commencement Address in 1978, he critiqued the West’s focus on materialism and individual happiness, warning that such pursuits could lead to moral and spiritual decay.

Solzhenitsyn believed that humanity’s purpose lay in the moral and spiritual development of the soul, not in the pursuit of happiness or worldly success. According to him, suffering could serve as a catalyst for this growth, offering individuals the opportunity to transcend their immediate desires and connect with deeper values such as truth, justice, and personal responsibility.

Solzhenitsyn’s view is particularly striking in his emphasis on responsibility. He believed that in the face of evil and injustice, individuals must take responsibility for their actions and decisions. A life well-lived, in his view, involves moral courage and a willingness to confront suffering and injustice rather than seeking comfort or happiness at all costs.

Wonder where I am going with this? I don’t think you have to wonder very long. I have heard again and again from those whom I love that I spend too much time “looking for bad things” that I am too interested in the wars, in suffering, in the deaths from the vaccines, in starving children. They claim that I need to give up on all of this and just enjoy what I have, the good life, the sunshine, the company of those whom I love - to be happy.

First of all, I cannot imagine turning my back on the world like that. Secondly, I am happy. In a strange way, my work which does focus on a lot of “bad” things brings me peace and contentment. My belief in God and in the beauty of physical existence - nature, art, music and love, to name a few of the things that God brings to this world through our consciousness, are always forefront of my mind.

The evil and ugliness are illusions nestled in those other realities. Yes, they limit our expressive creation, so they must be faced and dealt with. Every choice we make to see love in the world despite the hate we first face, is an act of Christ Consciousness - turning the hate that we see into the love we know sits behind it, is a truly meaningful pursuit. What could make a person happier?"

"The Object Of Life..."

 

"Hanging by a Thread"

"Hanging by a Thread"
by Todd Hayen

"It is quite amazing how close people are to serious mental illness. What is serious mental illness? Suicidal depression, psychosis, anxiety that requires hospitalization, and frankly anything that keeps a person from living a functional life, a life with its share of sadness, trauma and suffering, but also with moments of happiness, fulfillment, love and laughter.

That’s serious mental illness. What about “not so serious” mental illness? Well, we’ve got a lot more of that than one could even imagine. And then twice that many hanging by the thread, just about ready to drop into depression, anxiety, personality disorders of a dizzying variety, sadness, emotional dysfunction, relational wackiness, on and on. It is a pandemic, and yes, a real one that isn’t a hoax.

In my opinion, nearly every human alive suffers from some sort of emotional/mental anomaly. Maybe not everyone but a lot (and if you find one who doesn’t - maybe some young couple dressed in loincloths riding horses on the beach of some idyllic island somewhere in the South Pacific - let me know about them, I would love to meet them).

I see a lot of people in my practice, and I can unequivocally say that they all have issues. Well, that stands to reason, of course. That’s like a dentist saying everyone who comes into his or her office has some issue with his or her teeth. But I also hear about my client’s friends and family, I also interface with people in the grocery store, on the streets, and in my own friend circle, and all of these people have emotional issues, or are hanging by a thread - me included, of course (although my thread broke long ago and I have been swimming in psychological muck for most, if not all, of my life).

Isn’t this the normal “human condition?” Well, I used to think so, but not anymore. There is, of course, a “normal” human condition concerning mental and emotional regulation. Everyone gets depressed and sad once in a while, everyone gets anxious and has emotional flare-ups. We can describe a “normal” mental state which includes a lot of ups and downs. What I am describing is more than that, it is what comes across as abnormal, intense, devoid of much reason, out of regulation, and bordering on crazy. We are all, for the most part, whacked.

Ok, ok, not all of us are whacked. I know I am; you might not be. You may fall into this narrow band of a “normally wiggy” person psychologically, and if you do, congratulations. I am not convinced, however, that there are very many of you who can completely escape the screwed-up environment we all live in (yes, some may be more adept at processing this shite show than others). I would venture to say that you more than likely have been bitten, in some way, by the agenda if you live on this particular planet. Even if only through being around people who are truly crazy - that’s enough to make you fit into this category.

But I am not really commenting on fringe stuff here. I am commenting on those of us who are very close to being certifiably “off” - close to an actual diagnosis. Whether it be run-of-the-mill depression or anxiety, or more exotic personality disorders such as Borderline, Narcissistic, Histrionic, or even any one of the array of psychotic maladies such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar with Psychosis, or Paranoia.

Let’s look at some numbers. Almost 3 million people have been diagnosed with depression in 2020 in the USA, 66 million with anxiety over the past year. In the same year almost 5 million were diagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder, about 5 million with Narcissist Personality Disorder, and almost 2 million with Schizophrenia.

About 10 million will suffer from some form of psychosis in their lifetime, almost 10 million have been diagnosed with BiPolar disorder over the past year, 15 million adults suffer from ADHD, and nearly 35 million children were diagnosed with this particular malady over the same year.

And these statistics only apply to people who have complained enough about their mental condition to their doctor, psychiatrist, or certified psychologist, to be actually diagnosed and put on the docket as having these mental disorders. No telling how many are suffering from mental illness and have not shared their condition with someone who is qualified to render an official diagnosis (psychotherapists, in Canada, are not allowed to diagnose).

Yep, it’s a big problem. And then there is the medication. It is estimated that approximately 76 million people in the US, of all ages, have been prescribed, and are consuming, some form of psychiatric drug (I would venture to say it is more than this). That’s a lot of folks, folks.

Do I put a lot of weight on official diagnoses and labelling? Not really. But regardless of what you think of diagnosis standards and criteria, people are suffering from something - even if you refrain from putting a name to it. This is easy to see without doing much digging. People seem to have lost a lot of their mental capacity to think, to think critically, and to function within the expected “norms” of society (whatever that is). People, in general, seem to have a very difficult time making any sort of rational decisions about everyday challenges in everyday life.

That’s a big statement, I know. And maybe this has always been true, but my gut tells me this is all due to the social pathology the agenda has brought upon us. And no, it isn’t all due to an intentional agenda to pulverize us into flesh-eating zombies, but by golly most of it is.

If you think about how far away humans are from living a natural life, it isn’t much of a stretch to believe we are all suffering from some sort of mental and emotional dysfunction. Although this has been slowly going on since humans stopped living in caves, we have been relatively skilled at staving off the pandemic of mental illness we now seem to be suffering.

Sure, humans have always been a bit kooky. But wouldn’t you say today it appears to be much worse than it was 100 years ago? 200 hundred years ago? The disintegration of moral values, character development, a misunderstanding of “right and wrong,” the dissolution of family, community, spirituality, gender, and even the sanctity of the human body has all had its toll on healthy emotional and mental processing. When we no longer can process properly, we lose psychic homeostasis, and disease sets in."
o
"Don't wonder why people go crazy. Wonder why they don't.
In the face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant,
wonder what the hell it is that makes us hold it together."
- "Grey's Anatomy"
o
"The worst part is wondering how you'll find the strength tomorrow to go on doing what you did today and have been doing for much too long, where you'll find the strength for all that stupid running around, those projects that come to nothing, those attempts to escape from crushing necessity, which always founder and serve only to convince you one more time that destiny is implacable, that every night will find you down and out, crushed by the dread of more and more sordid and insecure tomorrows. And maybe it's treacherous old age coming on, threatening the worst. Not much music left inside us for life to dance to. Our youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth. And where, I ask you, can a man escape to, when he hasn't enough madness left inside him? The truth is an endless death agony. The truth is death. You have to choose: death or lies. I've never been able to kill myself."
- Louis-Ferdinand Celineo
o
"Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether
 it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it." 
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"How It Really Is"

 

"Do What You Can..."

 

Dan, I Allegedly, "FEMA Hates You - Are You on Their List?"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 11/9/24
"FEMA Hates You - Are You on Their List?"
"Today, we're diving into the shocking truth that FEMA hates you. Plus, we talk about Tesla's customer service and the broader economic challenges affecting the auto industry. From Tesla's trillion-dollar valuation to the struggles of Stellantis and Sumitomo's massive layoffs, there's so much to unpack. Plus, we'll touch on other surprising industry news like Bentley's delay in going electric and the unusual Applebee's and IHOP merger."
Comments here:

"Arrogance and Hubris Brings Israel to Brink of Extinction"

Full screen recommended.
The CJ Werleman Show, 11/9/24
"Arrogance and Hubris Brings Israel to Brink of Extinction"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Dialogue Works, 11/9/24
"Col. Larry Wilkerson & Scott Ritter: 
Israel's Devastating Defeat as IDF Collapsing on All Fronts"
Comments here:

Adventures With Danno, "Stock Up On These Deals At Kroger!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 11/9/24
"Stock Up On These Deals At Kroger!"
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Friday, November 8, 2024

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Dangerous Days Ahead"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 11/8/24
"Alert! Dangerous Days Ahead, 
Trump Is In Trouble, Crash Is Coming, Iran Attack Imminent"
Comments here:

Jeremiah Babe, "Here Comes More Cheap Money; Markets Go Wild As Debt Explodes; Homeowners Barely Hanging On"

Jeremiah Babe, 11/8/24
"Here Comes More Cheap Money; 
Markets Go Wild As Debt Explodes; Homeowners Barely Hanging On"
Comments here: