JOURNAL

            The Sane mans Journal of Faith

•                        How to Determine what is True
• There is so much information, misinformation and ideas out there and in our minds that you may find the following advice helpful in determining if what is stated is true or false.
• Buddhist practice suggests that we not take "on faith", what were told is true, but to be open to the possibility of the truth, to observe, to notice, to check with our experience and see if what we are told is corroborated by it. 
• What does the writer hope to gain from his writing? Does he/she stand to  profit unreasonably from his/her work?
•  

If you think the Net will Change the World for the Better, Think again! The Universal Truth, "although not to popular", is contained in the total Net but gets very little attention. Even though it may be only an intellectual understanding of the Truth, and so subject to being itself problematic (see journal) below.

     Just a reminder that your servant here continues to come to terms as best I can, to the confusion, in and surrounding me, thanks to the extra strength afforded by the truth unfolded by Revelation and teachings of Jesus; the depression, resentment, guilt, hatred and the many untoward things I've experienced  in the past. And as for myself I continue to stumble, although to a much lesser extent, but I do have a road ahead at least for myself, as long as I keep trying to do the right thing and keep trying to dis cipher  the truth.

 Rene Girard,  "Truth is not a straight line but a spiral"

 " Any valuable extension of awareness is directly determined by the re-discovery of neglected truths".  This from our late and lamented world famous media guru, Marshall McLuhan, from the book "The Medium and the Light". What better place to re-discover these words of truth than in our own sacred book the Holy Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ, and in all words of iron (truth), or from whatever source, novels, movies, books etcetera.

    It's time that all religions and ways of life - from indigenous faiths to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Baha'i, Jainism, Shinto, Zoroastrianism, Falun-Dafa, Falun-Gong, Goths, Humanism, New Age, Objectivism, Universalism, etc. you'd have to include Atheism, Agnosticism, Apatheism as beliefs as well - put dogma and custom on the back burner and concentrated on the Universal Truths of their prophets, and Holy books, when comparing beliefs.

    For example as a Christian I can point to Proverbs 21: 2, "Every way of a man is right in his/her own eyes; but the Lord pondereth the hearts" and from Jesus "Forgive them father for they know not what they do". A recent book "Mistakes were Made but Not by Me" provides scientific proof that we all  feel right in our own eyes and hate to admit we've made a mistake and are quick to rationalize the error, they call it "cognitive dissonance" and they use George Bush as an example. 
     An adherent of the Christian Right, Bush chose to ignore a more reasonable view, and made choices according to his extreme conditioning, ignoring reason and common sense.

    The second quotation from the cross, Science has proven that most conflict, division and violence is triggered by a subconscious process, so we're not as guilty as we think, just ignore - ant of our sub-conscious. An in-depth understanding of the two above pitfalls would dramatically reduce conflict, division and violence; and all other beliefs, and ways of life can contribute their own wisdom and truths found in their own narrative. 
     Islam is a faith that has done a lot for it's adherents, Mohammed built and established a progressive system of governance and established the religion of Islam. Islam was a progressive and a highly disciplined faith that required of it's members to take some time every day to worship and improve their over-all character, it's creed was to spread the message world wide, even in the face of adversity.

    Jesus Christ also emphasized good moral behaviour, but went much further and warned us that unless we learned to live without violence, by coming to know it's origins, we would face the eventual apocalypse. He went on to teach and left a formula for peaceful co-existence amongst ourselves and all nations. 

    Many of us are reluctant Christians mainly because of the stain on Christianity initiated by the outdated doctrine and dogma of the Christian Right, who live in the Old Testament and revere the God of vengeance therein. Especially alarming is the philosophy of the elite tier, see the book "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet, or google his  name. Lets just say that they've come to idolizing people like Hitler, Ghengis Khan, the mafia. See  More rope  for the Christian Right posted previously.

   

                                                 JOURNAL   

   I've decided to run an ongoing posting on my blog for the most part, trying to keep up to date on current events in an unadjusted society; and at the same time  remind ourselves of the formula for a better  more intelligent and joyful life experience, so lets keep the faith. 

    Don't forget there is a road ahead even if it leads back to a simpler life or heaven should forbid  back to the wilderness, so we better remain or regain friendliness with our native brothers and sisters, along with our neighbours.

   I only know for sure that for years I was in the jaws of the black dog - no racial slur intended - and I was somehow able to escape to a better place; and because of the murder of a close family member I was driven to tell my story. 
                 

  Limits of Intellectual Understanding         

     Understanding these things that cause conflict, division and violence on an intellectual level is by no means true understanding , only when It changes your actions on a daily basis, can you know that there is joy and peace in your heart. Otherwise  you may feel that you are superior to others because you know these things, thereby isolating yourself, in an ivory tower, thus scapegoating those who don't understand. 

    Welcome back to my nightmare, I haven't added 
to my blog for almost two months.

     But of course number one, there aren't many out there - is there anybody out there? - who want to hear the truth about human behaviour. Most  don't want to imagine and pursue a better way of living - " I just want to celebrate a better way of living" from the old song. 

     Number two -  not that we can be blamed for wanting to forget the mess we're in here there and everywhere -we have fallen for so many illusions, hard pornography, the lie of the wrestling game, the religion (cult) of celebrity, spectacles like American Idol. 
    And all television shows that are based on people competing for the number one position, thereby encouraging lack of integrity and our love of scapegoating. The judges on these shows,usually 4, can and do make up to 50 million a year. After scapegoating thousands of contestants, they choose a winner who gets a contract or consideration by a high profile company.
      See posting for Wed/June/9th below for Chris Hedges unprecedented research into the many illusions that are leading to our downfall.

    Most of us give up on wanting to create a better society, and have become comfortably numb and exhausted by the lack of success; who can blame us with so much loss of integrity and resentment everywhere!

    So, so, so you've heard it all before if you've followed this poor mans blog. Who wants to develop a bit of constructive discipline and fight back, when all this illusion and entertainment is available?

    So what if the world's is going to .... in a hand basket, man, we say I want to get the most out of life while I can, I mean look at the conflict, division and violence everywhere, leave me alone to do what I like!
     Earthquakes, volcanoes, droughts, floods, mudslides, pestilence, disease, war, the possibility of life being wiped out by an asteroid, yes the universe is a violent place.

     Maybe real joy comes to us as we struggle to improve things for ourselves and others; you could call it the gravity of life. Like we struggle against gravity, we must struggle against adversity and persecution for now to get to a better place. Only faith in faith can create the framework for a road ahead!

    So party on get as much as you can as fast as you can and let the devil rule, so the h.ll with long term survival.

    Even though there is a formula for intelligent living, that has no real bias against enjoying your life. A state of mind where joy is visited on you for no reason, where the only responsibility is to love God, Allah, the Creator the unfathomable mystery, intelligence and beauty of the Universe(one turn) and start with compassion for - if you can't love - your neighbour.

    And in the end like Shakespeare said, "in that sleep of death what dreams". Take it from me if you can or can't it's the better side of the Great Circle of life. At this point, we are all bricks in the wall, and the main thing about it is that the wall is built on the foundation of the poor and middle classes ( the working classes) and those atop the wall are laughing all the ... to the .... .Later...

Mon/Apr/12//2010

    Not much happening, and me is reminded of a few lines from a Moody blues album.
    Bedsitter people look back and lament. Another day and energy uselessly spent; Newly weds wrestle as one; New mother picks up and suckles her son; Lonely man longs for love, but has none; Senior citizens wish they were young.

    But life goes on and the over-privileged continue to increase their wealth at our expense. But soon the wall will collapse again and there won't be any bricks to rebuild it again. We can't avoid all conflict, division and violence, but enough is enough.

    The increase in natural disasters, extreme storms and the lack of any solutions to our many conflicts, lack of integrity and violence interpersonally and internationally has led us to believe - like Peggy Lee laments in her song " Is that all there is" -  that there is no hope, the dream is over!

    Don't believe it, there is a solution that even a ten year old can understand, but we don't like advice, we all feel we're right in our own eyes, blah, blah blah blah. We - those who haven't found it yet - are seeking an identity and sense of belonging.

    

    Their predicting that the next anti-Christ will come from the far east.  
    We believe that the bigger problem for now is to quote Noam Chomsky from his 1999 book " Profit Over People" "The corporate news media, the Public Relations industry, the academic ideologues, and the intellectual culture writ large play the central role of providing the necessary illusions to make this unpalatable situation appear rational, benevolent, and necessary if not necessarily desirable".

    See "Empire of Illusions" by Chris Hedges for an up to date elaboration and confirmation of our many illusions. In other words there telling us don't worry enjoy your life things will get better for you , meanwhile your income has not kept up with inflation and their income has gone up an average of 400 percent. Later

Mon/Apr/19/2010;

    T00 many distractions in my life right now, but we're back and ready to pick up the cross and attempt to unfold the truth from a viewpoint not a point of view. 

    In her book "The Art of Choosing" Sheena Iyengar a Social Psychologist says, "Choosing helps us create our lives, we make choices and in turn are made by them".  You could put it into computer language by saying we choose or inherit from our particular culture, software of the mind and our choices begin to create new software for our minds to follow and believe in. 

    But here's the rub, after we've interiorized these, lets call them ICBM's, Ideas, Customs, Beliefs and Myths they become part of us and usually we would defend them as we would naturally respond to a punch by another. So they are a good part of our identity and besides creating rivalries and polarities with other different ICBM's, they do provide a sense of security for new immigrants, especially in a multi-cultural city or country. 

    All these different ICBM's (cultures) had  similar goals to insure survival of the culture, and include a search for truth, and all believe in the "Golden Rule" and a God or in the case of Buddhism and Hinduism  all of reality is sacred. But because of psychological reasons, we only are able to deal with the cosmetic and not the universal truths in a belief.

    So it's time for all of us to "get serious now, the hours gettin late", shouldn't we look to a formula that insures survival as far as anything could be said to do that. ICBM's needed to be strictly adhered to in the forming of culture in archaic times, but in an overcrowded global village where all is not well, they should take a back seat to a need for conciliation, healing and universal truths, that spell out what we must do to live in the Garden.

There are Universal truths and a teaching and revelation that can and does provide a road ahead and a way of healing the world, see older postings on this site.

Wed/Apr/21/2010

     I've recently been called scatterbrained by a trained professional, who went on to say that the world needs this type, but somehow it didn't feel like a compliment to me. In any case it does explain why I jump around a lot in trying to get the point across about some aspect of human behaviour and it's probable cause, and what we can do about it "Unless you become as little children you shall not see the Kingdom of God".

    Recently I picked up the book  "God Is" by David Adams Richards who speaks with words of iron about how we lose so much by not having faith in a greater power, God. He speaks about how he grew up with some rough and tough characters as did I, and about an accident that he was involved in where if he had worn a seat belt he would have been killed, exactly the same thing happened to me in the late 60's.

Richards is a Canadian author with a few bestsellers to his credit and an engaging way with narrative, he also quotes Rene Girard and exposes the truth about such evil men as Joseph Stalin. But goes on to say that we all have evil in us but of course to different degrees, and has this to say about faith.
    "Peace which surpasses all understanding is what faith actually is. It is nothing less than a complete transcending of earth, of geopolitical concerns. That does not make us comfortable, nor can we always achieve this. Yet it is a transcendence of murder and horror, not a participating in it.  It is a transcendence of what is not living or life affirming toward what is. That is all".

    He goes on to say, "Faith is important simply because all of mankind's other concerns are actually unsolvable without faith--and great faith". I urge you to get "Sin Is", his latest book, apparently all his novels in some way are about faith and the consequences of not having it. I can only add you can't have value if you have no humane values...

    What you end up with at the end of the day, is best answered by these lines from a Moody Blues Song, "another day and energy uselessly spent". When asked by one of his many disciples, master can I be excused as I must attend at the funeral of a close family member? Jesus our Lord replied "let the dead bury the dead".

    Jesus was and remains the Prophet who encompasses all other prophets, wise men, guru, seers or any other figure in the  history of mankind. He beckons to us to make an effort and, warns us the consequences of evil and predicted that unless we begin to live constructively we face the apocalypse, a time of great awakening as we balance on the edge of the abyss. Are we losing our ability to focus, being to busy multi-tasking.

" And now the wheels of heaven stop you feel the devil riding crop; get ready for the future it is murder". from the Future album by Leonard Cohen.We love actors who play heroes, while we persecute, marginalize, scapegoat or murder our heroes, partly because we cannot be likewise. 

    Well Jesus has created the road ahead, a teaching and revelation without precedent, take the first step try reading about Christ and the Bible, go read different books of the Bible forgive the tares and save the harvest. Read the 4 Gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, Job and Proverbs, what you have is a book filled with our past narrative; a legitimate contender for the the Greatest book ever written. Now I'm having visions of Charlton Heston opening the Red Sea passage

Sat,Apr/24/2010;

Headline in the Toronto Star page A16.
                              "Online Threats Shake MP"
Facebook page \featuring death threats against BC's Ujjal Dosanjh sparks an RCMP probe.
    A facebook page titled "Ujjal Dosanjh is a Sikh Traitor" has prompted the RCMP to investigate threats  against the outspoken British Columbia MP, who says "poisoned minds" are behind the frightening campaign. At least one posting on Friday morning urged the assassination of the Indo-Canadian politician. "It'd be much more appropriate to pierce him with bullets, not compassion", the posting also said.
    Dosanjh has been an outspoken critic of Sikh separatist extremism, and most recently sounded the alarm that it might be on the rise in Canada after he was the target of veiled threats on a Punjabi-language radio show. The one time BC premier has received threats in the past and was severely beaten in 1985 for his condemnation of Sikh violence in their fight for a separate homeland in India's Punjab province.
    Of course we're having the same thing happen in Toronto, where recently a fight broke out at a Sikh Temple in Brampton, using knives and machete's 4 men have since been charged. Obviously extremists are becoming more and more bold in their desire to rule over their community. So through instilling fear in their adversaries they attempt to coerce the community into their extremist views. 
    Of course their in the minority, but use fear, intimidation and violence to advance their cause, which as far as I know is mainly their desire for their own homeland in India. I can't speak of what or whom is right, and how they were treated in India, but why come to Canada - even though many are Canadian born - and continue their war here? 
Apparently our police have too much to do, without having to police their Temples, but unless we begin sending those convicted back to India it will only get worse. I'm almost certain we couldn't do likewise in their country, we may not be perfect here in Canada, but we should require peaceful co-existence from those who have come here for a better life. Many of our recent immigrants come from  ancient cultures, most of which have been fighting each other for centuries. Even though Harper is moving us tord's a police state, Canada has always been known for tolerance and a productive intelligence, and should demand as much from immigrants and their politics. "Love's the only engine of survival". It's been our insistence and purpose to unfold a road ahead which even a ten year old can understand, all this fighting is an example of man's nakedness beneath the veneer or veil of so called progress. The Net may  bring out the best but it also brings out the worst in us, secrets, attempts to throw light on the worst and what we can do to adjust. later;

Sun/Apr/25/2010;

    Fear is driving out reason and productive intelligence and replacing it with resentment, hatred, mistrust - and other elements of the Satanic Constellation - which creates more conflict, division and violence. All symptoms of a decaying culture, unless the disparity - between the over privileged and the working, or out of work classes - is rectified, there will be no hope. 
    When there is goodwill on both sides the situation reduces from a possible apocalypse, to an extremely complex problem, which however can be solved.
 Head Line in Toronto Star Sat. Apr.25/2010, page A25 by Mitch Potter.
                   Is paranoid U.S. losing grip on reality? 
 Historic backlash, devastated economy cited for dramatic rise in patriot and militia groups.
    Washington- "To hear the worst of the prognostications, the vast and mesmerizing country to the south of you is the United States of paranoia, a land of gun crazed zealots so riled up it is ready to take itself down for good. And  small wonder, if all one does is connect the many disconcerting dots: a wildly over exposed Tea Party movement channelling Sarah Palin's mantra not to retreat but instead "reload"; a 244 percent rise in the number of patriot and militia groups since Barack Obama's election; and the take down in March of the previously unknown Hutaree, Christian extremists who were apparently poised to attack the Feds in order to pre-empt Washington's secret plan for a new world order." He goes on to say the Oklahoma bombing of 1995 was preceded by the anti-government rhetoric so many are hearing today. Whatever happens they say America's going to remain intact on a trajectory to a better day. "Am I worried? you bet. Are we spiralling into the seventh circle of hell? Absolutely not" said Mark Potok, whose Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center says there are now 512 ant-government militias operating in the US.
    Potok goes on to say, that "we are not doomed. At the end of the day we went thru 250 years of slavery, a century of Jim Crow laws and then 40 years later tens of millions of white Americans were willing to vote for a black president. And every poll shows that each new generation of young people are much more open to inter-racial marraiges than their parents. Whatever happens thru this rough patch we'll be fine".
   And he adds,"What is unique about today as compared to previous surges of American nativism is the confluence of three challenges to the status quo and the Internet's ability to weld them as one. First race is really a factor. The US census says whites will lose their majority by 2050. A large number of Americans have the sense the nation their Christian forefathers built is being stolen from them right now.
    Second the fear, frustration and anger surrounding this terrible economy and the billions and billions spent to save mortgage, auto and banking executives, while so many feel, with  justification they got nothing". 
    "The third big driver of the backlash is the demonizing propaganda and conspiracy theories peddled by cable news pundits and ostensibly mainstream politicians. Like Sarah Palin talking about health-care "death panels"to kill grandma and Glen Beck talking about FEMA concentration camps. That makes this different from the wave of militias we saw in the 1990's - we didn't have so many people with huge audiences willing to say things absolutely false". 
    The deeper point Lowry wrote is that paranoia about government is woven into the American fabric, on both the left and right.
    Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates, a liberal think tank focusing on the political and Christian Right is arguing both sides to some extent. He has been widely quoted of late for one particular provocative statement : " We are in the midst of one of the most significant right wing populist rebellions in US history. We see around us a series of overlapping social and political movements populated by people who are angry, resentful and full of anxiety". But later he backed of somewhat, and said " we've just slipped back a step from the abyss and it's going to take a while to reach these people and calm them down"!!!
    Chip Berlet backed off on his hypothesis of the political and social Right because in the heat of the moment he almost let the cat out of the bag. What he was hesitant to mention perhaps was the book "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet one of most informative and int

eligent expos e's of the 21st century. Which recounts the hypocrisy of the Christian Right, which has condoned genocide, influenced foreign governments to en-act extremist laws and no longer believe in the teaching and revelation of Jesus Christ. The Elite tier of the Christian Right, fathers and sons and friends of the very rich, and whoever else can conspire with them  to gain power at any cost. The Christian Right does have a viable argument, on the excesses of this world, the lack of integrity so wide spread, an issue like anti-abortion bears more argument, however they have no interest in truth only how to control the world by any means, and so refuse debate on all issues except to make proclamations. Power Tripping and cunning. later.

Tues./Apr/27/2010;

    They must be prepared to defend their loss of faith in the God of the New Testament; the God of Jesus Christ a God of love and compassion, forgiveness, justice and non-violence. They of course prefer the God of vengeance of the Old Testament, to frighten their flock into compliance. Apparently they do - considering their loss of faith in Truth - enjoy their wealth and are seen as content and influential by many and an amiable secret organization open for influential persons of wealth or influence. 
    Meanwhile the liberal left, elites of course favor a more open society, with lax moral codes, which is rapidly going to .... .. . .... basket, thanks to our love of spectacles and illusions. The Christian Right has a huge psychological advantage, they have an identity and a sense of belonging; even though their narrative leaves a lot to be desired. 
The left as a whole in north America is sceptical of the existence of a God, and do not have a recognized central identity, so they speak in Humanism terms, but without a positive identity their words are empty and their narrative limited. 
    A good place to start a dialogue between the Left and Right is over the issue of abortion, which is pretty evenly split between pro and con. But their is a way to look at it that may as least lead to the truth of the matter,depending on how you want the future to unfold . later.
    No matter what, those in power remember, will not want to give up their power at any cost. Perhaps if they returned to their sacred book the Holy Bible, and uncovered the story of Jesus Christ who Leonard Cohen had this to say about, "I've seen the nations rise and fall; heard their stories heard them all; but love's the only engine of survival" in his 94 album "The Future".
    Jesus in his 40 day meditation in the dessert had an un-precedented insight - revelation - of how cultures are created and how they decay; and the true nature of man. But his simple message failed to be understood until after his resurrection, when those disciples involved began to fully understand his teaching and revelation, in so far as they could. Unfortunately his time on earth was limited and further unfolding and explanation of his message was halted in it's infancy by his crucifixion as a common criminal.
      The late saintly Simone Weil has said that all knowledge begins at the foot of the cross. later

Wed/Apr/28/2010 of the common era.

    It is said that Satan invented politics in hell in order to keep his helpers in line.
    The following is from Simon Watson at simonr.watson@toronto.ca
    "That is, just as religious fundamentalism is grounded in the perceived threat of secular liberalism, atheistic fundamentalism is grounded in the perceived social/political threat of religious extremism. Mimetic (imitative) tension develops as each sees the other reaching for the apple of ultimate truth and is driven to impose it's own absolute claims". Is this constructive intelligence at work or psychological insecurity and fear??? later.
    Since our manufacturing has moved offshore so to speak and put so many out of work we should begin farming produce and raising livestock, putting creative intelligence into play. Yes there may be exciting times ahead (now).

Sat/May/08/2010 

                    What philosophy rules the world today?
You may not have heard of him or read any of his books, but the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche - the man famous for the phrase "God is Dead" rules today.
So his was a reaction against the pettiness, lack of energy of the prevailing Christian doctrine, which occurred thru not having understood the Revelation and teaching of Jesus Christ. 
    Which is a stand alone formula for a non-violent and peaceful co-existence between all mankind. But because his ministry was cut short by the existing church of the era -  who felt and feared his charisma, and profoundly holy presence - he was unable to elaborate and make his teaching well understood. Only after the resurrection did his disciples come to understand his revelation and teaching and begin to unfold it to the world.

Sat/May/15/2010;

     To better understand how easily we fall into scapegoating we'll return to David Adams Richards book "God Is". Richards was born with only partial use of his left arm and hobbled when he walked due to his mother falling while she was carrying him.
    Here's what he says in his book starting on page 100. "All this left an impression on me. I was different from other people and I must not be. But there could be no way I could conceal this difference, for it was part of my very physicality, and I was at it's mercy. For the most part it was benign and for the greater part I was never bothered. 
    Yet there is a vicious element in our nature that loves to mock those that are not the same, those that are out of step with the others. At times when I was mocked, I would look around to see who did not join in and silently applaud them. One day, when I was about 6 or 7, a person who I thought was my best friend joined in when a few others started to torment me. He was afraid not to. In my own defence, I will say I handled all this as well as I could. I never in my life ran from anyone tormenting me about my affliction, and I could fight when I had to. That does not make me brave, it simply makes me stubborn. An open target, it made me aware of the mob. And it made me realize that it was the mob that lessens it's individual sin by joining others to commit a graver sin that then could be lessened and even sanctioned- I learned this very early. By the time I was 6 or 7 it was my strategy not to be near the mob. The mob that turned against me now and again when I was little, is the same that turned against me when I was 24 for writing things they feared. 
    So then I want to speak about something that is peculiar. I believe that people do not think that mob violence is something we see that much anymore. It belongs to bygone tales of the Old West or pioneer life or at least mob violence is something that we would not partake in ourselves. But what I have been saying up until now is the mob is the main stabilizer of sin (or wrongdoing if you will)--its main supporting beam.
    The mob that turned against me now and again when I was little is the same that turned against me when I was 24 for writing things that they feared. Both believed that they were acting in  accordance
with honour against that which they repudiated. But the mob fears much more than they pretend. As Seneca said about emperor Nero "One cannot give fear in measure one does not one's self possess". That is, everything is measured out, and every molecule of thought and action is in accordance with a greater law. To do a shameful action can never be brave, no matter how much the mob insists it is, and sanctions it.
    And The mob can be as active in the police department as in the street. The mentality of people banning together almost always follows the same logic and pattern in the end. Rene Girard  says that the idea to mimic (imitate) in order to be the same, in order to set up the scapegoat to be ostracized, is the way not of faith but of religious zealots. Religious fervour of this kind acts in accordance with that other condition--power. The mob becomes religious fervour, no matter what kind.
    So the mob is there to allow you to hide while still being part of the action. The mob is there to entice one to sin. No, what I am saying is that the mob recruits the man or woman in order for them to sin, and therefore must congratulate them on doing so.
    It is not the sin that is the primary goal of any mob, but the congratulations that comes when one lessens their own personality to the will of the mob, and is congratulated. The congratulations is never once said for doing ill, but for "being a regular guy" and "being one of the boys".
    That is what is applauded and actually that is what is sought. What they fear, more than anything else, is to be seen doing something that will not be licensed by the group they rely on for comfort and support. 
    Nothing lessens humanity more, and nothing in our society is more prevalent. Gossips are proof of this.
    "Every sin is the result of a collaboration," Stephen Crane wrote.
    I once saw as much boot licking malice in the common room of a university as I did in any town I was in. To gang up on a person and make them lose their chance at tenure out of fear of what others will say if we support them, is the same as the man who stands back and says nothing when a man is hanged". later
Sun/May/16/2010; 

    Richards goes on to say. "There is a will amongst us to pervert those bullying events into just cause by the one thing all sin, even Stalin's, falls back on--self-righteousness. And self-righteousness is in the end the greatest curse man has. the mob, just like the religious in the amphitheatre, needs the mob in order to be self-righteous, which is why self-righteousness is much graver an error than hypocrisy.

    The self-righteousness of sin (or wrongdoing) is its main gloss, it is the veneer which soothes us if we wish to change the meaning or intent  of what we have done in the eyes of others. It is far worse than hypocrisy, because it goes deeper into man's ambivalence toward truth. Or in fact, supports our constant craving to change truth. 

    Self-righteousness has changed the basic tenets of true to untrue, and therefore, in the name of Christ, Christ must die.

    Self-righteousness bends the very idea of truth to accommodate a sin we can champion as being justified under the circumstance."

    About politics he says this. "Politics is the one human endeavour that counts upon us knowing that a falsehood is being established as a truth, and relying on the fact that the majority will have no qualms about this.

    If we live long enough, we see that not only is this true but that many expect us to be false, and believe it is politically virtuous to do so. And this is how politics enters day to day life.

    I've witnessed it, just as you have in every political campaign and dinner party. It is still insincerity and it is still being insincere, but it is accommodated because we ourselves decide that the principles behind it are the ones that benefit ourselves, or in some way benefit what we believe.      "Politics was born in hell" Milton says. 

    Yet there is not a dinner gathering that goes by where these things are not seen for their cant and vacuousness. And if that is the case, something in our nature, some profound need in our makeup to counter these things is telling us to do so. 

    Not just to get it right, but for the feeling inside us that is somehow dangerous to allow a wrong position to assume the value of being right. This is what is at stake here, and why these small things become important."

    I urge you to get the book "God Is" by Richards one of Canada's beloved authors, who's lived through a heck of a lot and had the strength, stubbornness and courage to tell it like it is, let alone the many insights he shares.

    There's so much more in the book that is true, his truthfulness  can help return faith to our chaotic world, for those fed up with throwing up their arms, when some evil act is in the news. Part of what he is saying, is that even though to different extents we all have evil in us and given the right situation, we're all capable of losing it and committing murder. He does say that a murder in self defence, is of a different kind.

Mon/May/17/2010;

                               Money, Greed, Power     

"A U. S. Department of Justice report to Congress recently detailed a host of corruption cases." Headline in Monday May 17th's National Post". 

    "On a high marble wall in Courtroom Number One at the Dauphin County Courthouse in the capital of the Keystone State, these words are inscribed for all to see and shudder."

"NO MAN CAN BE DEPRIVED / OF HIS LIFE LIBERTY OR PROPERTY /UNLESS BY THE JUDGMENT OF HIS PEERS / OR BY THE LAW OF THE LAND."

    "Beneath the inscription we find a jury of 5 women and 7 men, casually dressed in sport shirts, being verbally machine-gunned by a State Prosecutor with a helmet of white hair and a Derek Sanderson moustache."

    The Prosecutor is saying, This is historic . This is something so huge and massive! If there is one theme that has emerged, it is arrogance. The mentality of Lords. The mentality of the ruling class.

It's about " I am mighty ". It's about "I am the man".

    In the dock - along with 3 of his erstwhile aides - is a sharp dressed man named Mike Veon, former Democratic Party whip of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Mr Veon is charged with 59 separate offences, many of them related to the use of his legislative staff to raise funds and campaign for his own re-election, rather than to tend to tend to the publics business.

    Across the US trials like this begin and end every working day. Each year more than 1000 men and women are charged with a similar betrayal of the public trust. Cheating the taxpayer and getting sent to jail is business as usual in the legislatures and city halls of a corrupt nation. 

    Mike Veon one of the most powerful men in this important - paid more than a million dollars in bonuses to his campaign staff out of the public treasury and that he even had a couple fly his motorcycle out to a biker rally in South Dakota and billed their trip to the taxpayers.

    Don't let someone spit in your face and tell you it's rain the prosecutor Patrick Blessington says in his closing. Allen Abel the Posts reporter later learned that 67% agree that, the only difference between Mike Veon and most state legislators is that Veon got caught. Nobody in power wants to do anything to change or 

reform a system thats been so good to them. 

    Meanwhile several Republicans are next on the docket. Prosecutors complain it's not like trying murders, who say you got me, these corrupted officials are acting like business as usual and put on a self righteous demeanour. The general idea is it's OK as long as you don't get caught.

    Secrets has warned about this massive loss of integrity, which seems to be world wide. later

Tuesday/May/18th/2010;                                                                     

    We make choices and then choices make us, were conditioned by them, and admittedly it may be difficult to realize we've been wrong about a lot of things.
    But with the added gift of deeper understanding of, for instance that Jesus is right when he said "Forgive them father for they know not what they do". 
    We now know that most conflict, division and violence is triggered by our unconscious. And with all the pessimism, resentment and the lure of so called entertainment which caters mostly to the lowbrow in us which is now engulfing us; we are prone to discount what may eventually free us from the vicious circles and bitterness now spreading  world wide.
Wed/May/26th/2010; 
    It's time to return to age old Truths, wisdom and the Revelation of Jesus Christ in our own book of wisdom the Holy Bible; and turn away from mans solutions, premised on Proverbs 21; 2 "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes". It's time to recognize the Truth of the 2nd verse "but the Lord Pondereth the hearts".

Sun/May/30th/2010; 

Mon/June/7th/2010;

Wed/June/9th/2010;

     Been working on a book the last week or so, but I just had to share this article with you by Chris Hedges author of several best sellers including "Empire of Illusions". The article is from the summer 2010 issue of Adbusters magazine, he tells it like it is more comprehensively than any one I can think of. After this article I will have to return to working on more posting, we'll try to get away from all the bad news for a bit.

                                     American Psychosis

Chris Hedges

"The United States, locked in the kind of twilight disconnect that grips dying empires, is a country entranced by illusions. It spends its emotional and intellectual energy on the trivial and the absurd. It is captivated by the hollow stagecraft of celebrity culture as the walls crumble. This celebrity culture giddily licenses a dark voyeurism into other people's humiliation, pain, weakness and betrayal.

     Day after day, one lurid saga after another, whether its Michael Jackson, Britney Spears or John Edwards, enthralls the country... despite bank collapses, wars, mounting poverty or the criminality of its financial class. 

     The virtues that sustain a nation-state and build community, from honesty to self-sacrifice to transparency to sharing, are ridiculed each night on television as rubes stupid enough to cling to this antiquated behaviour are voted off reality shows. Fellow competitors for prize money and a chance for fleeting fame, cheered on by millions of viewers, elect to "disappear" the unwanted. 

     In the final credits of the reality show America's top model, a picture of the woman expelled during the episode vanishes from the group portrait on the screen. Those cast aside become, at least to the television audience, nonpersons. Celebrities that can no longer generate publicity, good or bad, vanish. Life, these shows persistently teach, is a brutal world of unadulterated competition and a constant quest for notoriety and attention. 

     Our culture of flagrant self-exaltation, hardwired in the American character, permits the humiliation of all those who oppose us. We believe, after all, that because we have the capacity to wage war we have a right to wage war. Those who lose deserved to be erased. Those who fail, those who are deemed ugly, ignorant or poor, should be belittled and mocked. 

     Human beings are used and discarded like Styrofoam boxes that held junk food. And the numbers of superfluous human beings are swelling the unemployment offices, the prisons and the soup kitchens.

     It is the cult of self that is killing the United States. This cult has within it the classic traits of psychopaths: superficial charm, grandiosity and self-importance; a need for constant stimulation; a penchant for lying, deception and manipulation; and the incapacity for remorse or guilt. Michael Jackson" (amongst almost all of Hollywood) "from his phony marriages to the portraits of himself dressed as royalty to his insatiable hunger for new toys to his questionable relationships, had all these qualities. And this is the ethic promoted by corporations. It is the ethic of unfettered capitalism. It is the misguided belief that personal style and personal advancement, mistaken for individualism, are the same as democratic equality. 

     It is the nationwide celebration of image over substance, of illusion over truth. And is why investment bankers blink in confusion when questioned about the morality of the billions in profits they made by selling worthless toxic assets to investors.

     We have a right, in the cult of the self, to get whatever we desire. We can do anything,even belittle and destroy those around us, including our friends, to make money, to be happy and to become famous. Once fame and wealth are achieved, they become their own justification, their own morality. How one gets there is irrelevant. It is this perverted ethic that gave us that gave us investment houses like Goldman Sachs...that wilfully trashed the global economy and stole money from tens of millions of small shareholders who had bought stock in these corporations for retirement or college. The heads of these corporations, like the winners on a reality television who lied and manipulated others to succeed, walked away with hundreds of millions in bonuses and compensation.

     The ethic of Wall Street is the ethic of celebrity. It is fused into one bizarre, perverted belief system and it has banished the possibility of the country returning to a reality-based world or avoiding internal collapse. A society that cannot distinguish reality from illusion dies.

     The tantalizing illusions offered by our consumer culture, however, are vanishing for most citizens as we head towards collapse. The ability of the corporate state to pacify the country by extending credit and providing cheap manufactured goods to the masses is gone. The jobs we are shedding are not coming back, as the White House economist Lawrence Summers tacitly acknowledges when he talks of a "jobless recovery". The belief that democracy lies in the choice between competing brands and the accumulation of vast sums of personal wealth at the expense of others is exposed as a fraud.  Freedom can no longer be conflated with the free market.

     The travails of the poor are rapidly becoming the travails of the middle class, especially as unemployment insurance runs out. And class warfare, once buried under the happy illusion that we were all going to enter an age of prosperity with unfettered capitalism, is returning with a vengeance.

     America is sinking under trillions in debt it can never repay and stays afloat by frantically selling about $2 billion in treasury bonds a day to the Chinese. It saw 2.8 million people lose their homes in 2009 to foreclosure or bank repossessions - nearly 8,000 people a day - and stand idle as they are joined by another 2.4 million people this year. It refuses to prosecute the Bush administration for obvious war crimes, including the use of torture, and sees no reason to dismantle Bush's secrecy laws or restore habeas corpus. Its infrastructure is crumbling. Deficits are pushing individual states to bankruptcy and forcing the closure of everything from schools to parks.

     The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have squandered trillions of dollars, appear endless. There are 50 million Americans in real poverty and tens of millions in a category called "near poverty." One in eight Americans - and one in four children - depend on food stamps to eat.

     And yet , in the midst of it all, we continue to be a country consumed by happy talk and happy thoughts. We continue to embrace the illusion of inevitable progress, personal success and rising prosperity. Reality is not considered an impediment to desire. 

     When a culture lives within an illusion it perpetuates a state of permanent infantilism or childishness. As the gap widens between the illusion and reality, as we suddenly grasp that it is our home that is being foreclosed or our job thats not coming back, we act like children. We scream and yell for a Savior, someone who promises us revenge, moral renewal and new glory. It is not a new story. A furious and sustained backlash by a betrayed and angry populance, one unprepared intellectually, emotionally and psychologically for collapse, will sweep aside the Democrats and most of the Republicans and will usher America into a new dark age.

     It was the economic collapse in Yugoslavia that gave us Slobodan Milosevic. It was the Weimar Republic that vomited up Adolf Hitler. And it was the breakdown in Tsarist Russia that opened the door for Lenin and the Bolsheviks. A cabal of proto-fascist misfits, from Christian demagogues to loudmouth talk show hosts, whom we naively dismiss as buffoons, will find a following with promises of revenge and moral renewal. And as in all totalitarian societies, those who do not pay fealty (loyalty) to the illusion imposed by the state become the outcasts, the persecuted.

     The decline of American empire began long before the current economic meltdown or the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It began before the first Gulf War or Ronald Reagan. It began when we shifted, in the words of Harvard historian Charles Maier, from an "empire of production" to an "empire of consumption." 

     By the end of the Vietnam war, when the costs of the war ate away at Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and domestic oil production began its steady, inexorable decline, we saw our country transformed from one that primarily produced to one that primarily consumed. We started borrowing to maintain a level of consumption as well as an empire we could no longer afford. We began to use force, especially in the Middle East, to feed our insatiable thirst for cheap oil. We substituted the illusion of growth and prosperity for real growth and prosperity. The bill is now due. 

     Americas most dangerous enemies are not Islamic radicals but those who sold us the perverted ideology of free-market capitalism and globalization. They have dynamited the very foundations of our society. In the 17th century these speculators would have been hung. Today they run the government and consume billions in taxpayer subsidies. 

     As the pressure mounts, as the despair and desperation reach into larger and larger segments of the populace, the mechanisms of corporate and government control are being bolstered to prevent civil unrest and instability. The emergence of the corporate state always means the emergence of the security state. This is why the Bush White House pushed through the Patriot Act (and its renewal), the suspension of habeas corpus, the practice of "extraordinary rendition," warrantless wiretapping on American  citizens and the refusal to ensure free and fair elections with varifiable ballot counting. The motive behind these measures is not to fight terrorism or to bolster national security. It is to seize and maintain internal control. It is about controlling us.

     And yet, even in  the face of catastrophe, mass culture continues to assure us that if we close our eyes, if we tell God that we believe in miracles, if we tap into our inner strength, if we grasp that we are truly exceptional, if we focus on happiness, our lives will be harmonious and complete. This cultural retreat into illusion, whether peddled by positive psychologists, by Hollywood or by Christian preachers, is magical thinking. It turns worthless mortgages and debt into wealth. It turns the destruction of our manufacturing base into an opportunity for growth. It turns alienation and anxiety into a cheerful conformity. It turns a nation that wages illegal wars and administers off shore penal colonies where it openly practices torture into the greatest democracy on earth. And it keeps us from fighting back.

     Resistance movements will have to look now at the long night of slavery, the decades of oppression in the Soviet Union and the curse of fascism for models. The goal will no longer be the possibility of reforming the system but of protecting truth, civility and culture from mass contamination. It will require the kind of schizophrenic lifestyle that characterizes all totalitarian societies. Our private and public demeanours will often have to stand in stark contrast.

     Acts of defiance will often be subtle and nuanced. They will be carried out not for short term gain but the assertion of our integrity. Rebellion will have an ultimate if not easily definable purpose. The more we retreat from the culture at large the more room we will have to carve out our lives of meaning, the more we will be able to wall off the flood of illusion disseminated by mass culture and the more we will retain sanity in an insane world. The goal will become the ability to endure". 

Sun/June/27/2010;
                                              G8 and G20 
          What you witnessed at the G20, on television and on the street is a giant step towards a police state and the disintegration of society as we know it. "Get ready for the future it is murder, things are gonna slide slide in all direction, won't be nothin you can measure anymore, the blizzard of the world has crossed the thresh hold and overturned the order in the soul", from the 94 CD by Leonard Cohen "The Future". 
Tues/June/29th/2010;
          Scientists say that our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information. Heavy multi-taskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information; and they experience more stress.
          "Another U.S. is necessary", slogan of activists after meeting in Atlanta in 2007.
          The World Social Forum met in Jan. 2009 in Bele'm Brazil, they concluded that in order to overcome the crisis "we have to grapple with the root of the problem and progress as fast as possible towards the construction of a radical alternative that would do away with the Capitalist system and patriarchal domination. It's not the Capitalist  system, it could be any system that man has devised, and  as Shakespeare quoted Julius Caesar as saying to Brutus, "The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves".
          It seems our own human nature is the cause of all the un-necessary conflict, division and violence in us. 
          The next question becomes what if anything can we do to change our perceptions, actions and re-actions that originate in our total consciousness. Can we discipline, channel, overcome or transcend these negative reactions in time to stop the coming Apocalypse?

The state of affairs that occurred in Toronto at the G20 summit has been repeated over and over again throughout history.
          Often a revolution succeeds in replacing the ruling government, but the new regime eventually sets up the same conditions for another revolution. Those in power become the elites and power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Those who are the new governing body, reduce their use of intelligence to insure they remain in power and being big they have the luxury of thinking little. 
          Living high on the hog seems to be a universal desire, the more we get the more we want. There are very few who see this vicious circle, and fewer still who want to do anything about it until
backed against the wall, like what happened at the G20.
          But will doing away with capitalism and patriarchy solve the problem? Secrets believes that in order to solve these rampant issues we have to understand our direct complicity and what causes human nature to repeat the same mis-stakes. 
          Human Nature is far from being understood to any depth but the obvious and superficial level. The question we must ask is can we overcome, discipline or transcend our human nature.
Sun./July/04/2010
           Obviously we must first determine the origin of our human nature that leads to conflict and violence, how our total conditioning from childhood onwards contributes to this state of affairs. We must come to understand our tendency of scapegoating, the danger of mimetic desire, which can and does lead to rivalry and loss of differences.
          We have to explore the various triggers that lead to division and violence including such elements as jealousy, negative envy, racism, hatred etc. We can isolate these different triggers, and keep them under the umbrella of the Satanic Constellation. Under this logical framework we hope to present a system that could be taught in schools. Why for instance do they still insist on teaching about individual wars but never consider studying the causes of wars thru our human nature? The Israeli and Palestinian conflict has been going on and off for thousands of years, and will continue indefinitely into the future. Isn't it time we grew up after all we're the result of 14 billion years of evolution. Are we addicted to polarity, most of us seem to be at our best and most alive when we face opposition for whatever reason.
          We are victims of ancient and primordial reflexes, like the usually unnecessary adrenalin fuelled flight or fight response, which usually ends in conflict or violence, and can lead to burnout.


          How all these elements, including our ICBM,s ideas, customs, beliefs and myths shape our behaviour is of the highest importance.
          How to put all these elements together under the umbrella of the Satanic Constellation, in a logical framework, thus creating a teachable body of work is the problem? any ideas or criticism would be welcome. 
          Our most important needs are for food, shelter and a mate.
We also have psychological needs, especially in today's widespread anxiety and stressful societies, like belonging, and identity. It seems we are not to fussy about what narrative (belief) comes with whatever we belong to, as long as it fosters a sense of belonging and identity.   
Tues/July/20/2010;
          The following from the Second Epistle (letter) of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians and is a warning about the limits of words, referred to as the letter, as opposed to "spirit".
Referring to the reading of the Old Testament as containing abstract laws veiling the word.
          11 Corinthians; 3; 14, "But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which veil is done away in Christ", same book verse
6," Who also has made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." 
Sept./8th./2010 
                       Constructive Introspection
      You and I are the world, if we wish to bring more harmony to our world in our personal and global relations, we must come to understand as best we can, our own chaotic human nature. Understanding what the origin of the destructive aspects of our human nature, conscious and subconscious would give us a leg up in either disciplining, changing, or transcending those satanic characteristics!

Friday Febuary 17th/2012

For more see Are there any true Christians left in the Universe