Who are we? Are we just machines, are we simply the brains of our
bodies, or are we truly conscious beings? This also leads one to the
question: What is consciousness? Is it when a human being wakes from
slumber? Is it the life that sparks self awareness into a life form?
Or, are we, at the root of our beings, at the grounds of our
molecules, consciousness? Perhaps the most relevant question is: Why
is this important?
The world is in turmoil. The people are in a state of chaos. Society
is crumbling beneath its feet. And, oddly enough, most of us are
searching from salvation. Yet, few of us, very few, ever find the
truth to the question: Who are we? Why is this? How can the answer to
our most vital question be so elusive? Is this because we're asking
the wrong question? Is this due to our lack of knowledge or is the
problem a lack of awareness?

Ever wonder why your friend continues to find boyfriends who abuse
her? Are you curious about the reason why John can't seem to find a
girlfriend? Perhaps even you yourself are having a bit of trouble in
the department of love. Maybe you find that all women are "screwed up
in the head" with "too much emotional baggage" or, perhaps, you view
all men to be "a$$#oles" who are "only after one thing". Have you
heard these words coming from either you or your friends? Have you
ever stopped to wonder why men and women complain about each other in
nearly the same fashion, yet for some odd reason continue to act out
the same patterns in their relationships?

As with the stimulation of chasing could it be that you or your
friends are addicted to the pleasure of pain?

Is he really "just not that in to you" or is there a reversal in
stimulation on either end of the party? Recently, I have been
bombarded with questions of "how do I get the girl I'm after?" or
visa-versa. However, I pose the question "why do you want the girl or
guy you're after? If you're after him or her and he or she is clearly
not paying that much attention why on Earth are you chasing them?
Would you rather not be with an individual who acknowledges your
presence and desires to be with you as much as you with them? And,
believe me when I say, should you catch this elusive prey you chase,
likely the end result will be much disappointment, as the reason you
are really chasing is not to capture but for the chase itself.

So ask yourself: Am I really that into him or am I just really into
the thrill of chasing?

Food, water, shelter, energy are all in great abundance, and great is
an understatement. Why, then, is the world running around afraid of
losing our most basic survival needs? The financial system is upheld
by belief. Value is given to all forms of currency; this includes
precious metals like gold and platinum, rocks and gemstones like
diamonds and rubies, and, of course, the most useless of them all,
paper. Gold is best served as a conductor for electricity. Diamonds
are truly effective as photonic focal point (like a laser beam). And
paper, well… writing on it is excellent, but it is damn good when it
comes to keeping you warm by burning it.
So, why have these three among many other inanimate objects been the
desire and survival for billions of people for thousands of years?
What perpetuates this madness? The answer is simple: Our belief in its
value. People go nuts over these often useless objects, to the point
of killing, as we have all witnessed. So, being the pesky observer I
often am, I must ask: Knowing that we are creating value for the
relatively useless, and we possess the power to cultivate and
distribute far more than enough of what is truly vital, how can we
stop the perpetual madness?
As with any beginning, it all starts with awareness!

Some of us live our lives simply to drudge through the day with
nothing to hope for, nothing to look forward to. Others sit in
anticipation waiting for weeks, months and years for some event to
happen, for an event to take them out of their boredom and provide
purpose, even if only for a short while. As a whole we all seem to
miss the mark of our purpose here, or as the writers of the bible
would say, we are all sinners (sin coming from its root synn literally
meaning to miss the mark, a translation from the Greek word hamartia).

How are we all "missing the mark"? Ask yourself, are you enjoying your
life? Are you living, even to a degree, the life you truly want to.
Are your actions those of your own or are they purely from a
conditioned pattern you've learned to reenact?

Are you stuck in the fog of living?

Now, if you answered yes to any one of these questions I now ask you:

Do you want change?

"So within, so without"

 

Within all of us is the root of the scarcity we find in the world outside of us. That is what the quote above points to. And to answer the probing question asked in the previous blog, all scarcity is an inner phenomenon, is it not? If the root of all scarcity weren't due to a lack of inner awareness or understanding, would we not have driven ourselves into the predicament we now find to be our current situation? We find scarcity in many aspects of our lives, but we also find an abundance of resources to eliminate the scarcity lying well within our reach. Running out of oil? We have a myriad of ways to extract electricity. Short on food and supplies? Cease to distribute 70 percent of the goods production to less than thirty percent of the world's population (the United States). Running out of water? STOP privatizing rivers and lakes for the sake of profit and seek to SELF SUSTAIN the water system or at least allow less fortunate countries to do this for themselves.

 

As anyone can see, scarcity is not a current issue for humanity. Rather, blind ignorance and over-consumption lead to the hoarding, gathering, enslaving and manipulating of goods and services.

 

So, the question is not are we running short of resources on our planet. The question is: What is the mind frame that causes our condition?

In a world that prints its own money, I ask: How can our societies be poor?

Now, now, I am not so naïve to truly think that there isn't a logical/mathematical/economical explanation as to the current global recession we all face. I am simply wondering if there are others out there who notice the madness behind it all.

"Madness?!" scoffed the banker, "It's not madness, it's simple economics. The dollar is overinflated and there simply are not enough goods and services to accommodate the supply of cash flow. We live in a time of economic scarcity and we can only fix it by readjusting the balance".

However, I wonder if this will truly solve our issue. Every Michigander knows that we live in a time of financial scarcity. But… finances in any form of currency, paper or electronic, has no true value. And, if it has no true value, meaning we give it whatever value we ultimately want, not to mention we print it, why are we all living as if resources are scarce? Why do we feel bad when we give the clerk twenty dollars for food? It is as if a part of you has been taken and you're now left with a cart of mere survival morsels. Is this not backwards?

To be continued…

Down the Rabbit Hole

What is Symbiosis? By definition, it is the partnership of dissimilar organisms. But, what does this mean to you? How does this apply in your life, as reality is indeed symbiotic? When you walk outside, look at the trees, and then ask yourself: Am I separate from that innate organism? At first glance, some might say, "Well, yes. Of course I am separate from the tree. I have my own set of limbs and particles that are completely isolated from it. I can move away and never return. I am separate." This observation, however, is grossly limited to the tiny band and sensory perception we as human-beings often take for granted.

As most know, the tree provides one of the most essential elements of our existence: oxygen. The human body is made up of six elements, 65% of it oxygen. So, if 65% of you is the result of what a tree produces, that means the tree is just as much a part of you as your leg or arm.

Others might say, "I am not my body either. I am not anything that I can lose. I am my mind. Once my mind is gone so am I" or they might say "I am a spirit, temporarily visiting a primitive world with the promise of goodies when this journey is over" If this is so, where is the spirit? Does it exist? If it does, how is your spiritual body more you than your physical? Believe me, I, of all people, am certainly not suggesting that we are lifeless robots, systematically or randomly placed on some accidental world, which is the sum/result of billions of years of chaotic occurrences.

I am saying that all aspects life, physical and non-physical, are tied together. I am saying that everything is a part of our body or rather we are a part of a much bigger tree.

Now ask yourself: If all that exists is an extension of me, how am I treating myself these days?