1. Learn to enjoy the empty feeling, literally and figuratively. There is a lot of empty.
2. Don't expect incapable people to meet any of your needs. I once said to someone I loved: "Why don't you meet any of my needs?" The reply: "Because your needs are stupid."
3. Anyone who thinks total independence is synonymous with mental health and strength is living a lie. Health and happiness come from nurturing mature interdependence.
4. Our wounds occur in relationships, and our healing resides in relationships.
5. Avoid narcissism.
6. Wisdom erases Karma (but not fast enough).
7. Let thy food and thy booze be thy medicine.
8. Stay loose. Tightness is synonymous with death. Permeability is the capacity to take things in selectively.
9. Thank the Tao every day.
10. Remember that you are a spirit inhabiting a human body, not the other way around. That is a hard one for old, arthritic people to remember.
11. Whatever we can conceive, we can achieve; however, it won't happen most of the time. Learn to live with disappointment.
12. Despite all the flowery, excessive language and ego-driven bragging one sees on Facebook or other social networking sites (e.g., amazing, awesome, fantastic, marvelous, and did I mention awesome), nobody is all that and a bag of chips.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Hackers are Fucktards
Since I've been away from my blog, my account has been hacked, and the hacker changed my password. Hackers, like Wall Street financial consultants, bankers, and godless executives of immoral corporations, should be put in hard-labor prisons. I realize that criminals have no conscience, but "Thou Shalt Not Steal" is a clear message. Karma will be a bitch. Enjoy yourself; it's later than you think.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Shooting the Messenger
The protests in Wisconsin and in other places in the world illustrate beyond a doubt that typical corporate (profit is religion), paternalistic (father knows best), militaristic (you will obey), oligarchic (few number of rulers, vast number of workers) practices and philosophies alienate and dichotomize (us-versus-them mentality) the means of production (the people who produce the product upon which the corporation relies for its profits).
The fundamental rules of repressive, paternalistic, authoritarian corporate (or governmental-corporate, which is what we've become by tolerating its stranglehold on every aspect of our lives) management are:
1. Knowledge is Power.
2. Power is not to be shared with underlings except when it serves management.
3. Money is Religion.
4. Profits drive all decisions.
5. The means of production exist to serve the needs of the autocratic oligarchy.
6. Hierarchy is militaristic and vital to obedience-style management.
7. Ownership trumps the means of production.
8. Means of production need careful top-down manipulation to avoid rebellion/revolution.
The fundamental rules of progressive, egalitarian, representational, democratic management are:
1. Truth-telling and knowledge are the right of everyone on the team.
2. There is a team, and all team members are equal.
3. Knowledge enhances understanding and promotes shared values and vision.
4. The management exists to serve the needs of and to facilitate the means of production.
5. The means of production (people who produce the product) trump ownership and autocratic governance.
6. Team work trumps hierarchical paternalism.
Change is scary, but change is inevitable. This is a central or core truth that conservatives (right-wingers) deny and/or do not wish to acknowledge. Autocrats and oligarchs would like everyone (the ruled) to know just enough information to psychologically prepare them to embrace the changes they want and to cooperate with their agenda so they can continue to control the means of production and so that the masses (who do not rule) never quite realize that the rulers are not operating in the best interests of the masses.
This battle has been going on for a long time, but over the years, the rulers have worn down the resistance of the ruled (who are the means of production) to the point where there is complete capitulation to the "system" that's been immorally imposed upon the masses. Until now. Perhaps what we are seeing in Wisconsin and in other places (like the Middle East) is a sign of awakening, a sign of intolerance of the intolerable, and a sign that FAIRNESS needs to be restored. With fairness comes sanity. In my humble opinion, we have reached the point of utter insanity, and that largely comes from utter unfairness.
To those who mutter that the world is not fair: Yes, you are right. But it should be. And if it were, everybody (except the corporate-government rulers who desire to perpetuate and grow their control and agenda) would be happier, healthier, more productive, and considerably more imaginative and creative. There would be no need for crime or violence or mind-altering substances to abuse.
The fundamental rules of repressive, paternalistic, authoritarian corporate (or governmental-corporate, which is what we've become by tolerating its stranglehold on every aspect of our lives) management are:
1. Knowledge is Power.
2. Power is not to be shared with underlings except when it serves management.
3. Money is Religion.
4. Profits drive all decisions.
5. The means of production exist to serve the needs of the autocratic oligarchy.
6. Hierarchy is militaristic and vital to obedience-style management.
7. Ownership trumps the means of production.
8. Means of production need careful top-down manipulation to avoid rebellion/revolution.
The fundamental rules of progressive, egalitarian, representational, democratic management are:
1. Truth-telling and knowledge are the right of everyone on the team.
2. There is a team, and all team members are equal.
3. Knowledge enhances understanding and promotes shared values and vision.
4. The management exists to serve the needs of and to facilitate the means of production.
5. The means of production (people who produce the product) trump ownership and autocratic governance.
6. Team work trumps hierarchical paternalism.
Change is scary, but change is inevitable. This is a central or core truth that conservatives (right-wingers) deny and/or do not wish to acknowledge. Autocrats and oligarchs would like everyone (the ruled) to know just enough information to psychologically prepare them to embrace the changes they want and to cooperate with their agenda so they can continue to control the means of production and so that the masses (who do not rule) never quite realize that the rulers are not operating in the best interests of the masses.
This battle has been going on for a long time, but over the years, the rulers have worn down the resistance of the ruled (who are the means of production) to the point where there is complete capitulation to the "system" that's been immorally imposed upon the masses. Until now. Perhaps what we are seeing in Wisconsin and in other places (like the Middle East) is a sign of awakening, a sign of intolerance of the intolerable, and a sign that FAIRNESS needs to be restored. With fairness comes sanity. In my humble opinion, we have reached the point of utter insanity, and that largely comes from utter unfairness.
To those who mutter that the world is not fair: Yes, you are right. But it should be. And if it were, everybody (except the corporate-government rulers who desire to perpetuate and grow their control and agenda) would be happier, healthier, more productive, and considerably more imaginative and creative. There would be no need for crime or violence or mind-altering substances to abuse.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Karma Suit Ya?
Some people get away with all kinds of crap and never suffer the consequences. That is grossly unfair and wrong, and that is the reason I still partially cling to the idea that there is such a thing as Karma. If there is not, then there should be more retribution legally and morally allowed in the Here-and-Now.
By the looks of things, I guess there are billions of people who do not believe in Karma or in the Great Hereafter where all is meted out as Justice and Mercy because there is one helluva lot of killing/retribution going on here on Planet Earth.
The irony is that most of these self-motivated retributionists profess to believe in God or Allah or Somebody Up There, and if they believe that God/Allah/SomebodyUpThere said THOU SHALT NOT KILL, then all this killing makes no sense to me. It is a walking contradiction. It looks to me like they justify it by claiming to exact retribution by killing in the name of God/Allah/SomebodyUpThere. It is insanity. Moral bankruptcy. Ethical malignancy. It's all just gigantically wrong.
I used to believe in spiritual and psychological consequences too, based mostly on fairy tales, but now I am not sure that I do. If I believe that resentment will ultimately harm me, then it probably will. But if I feel the entity known as resentment (or any other feeling) and don't buy into the idea (BS) that resentment harms me, then it probably won't. There is no proof of it one way or the other.
I think when any feeling (any feeling on the human continuum of feelings from love to hate) interferes with your ability to live your life, then that is probably harmful, but we're all guilty of that. Who lives a truly authentic, fulfilled, autonomous, and self-actualized life? Hardly anybody. Maybe nobody.
I think being a realist and dispensing with as much bullshit as possible inside your head and heart is probably the cleanest and least complicated way of living because then all these mental gyrations and ideations do not interfere with your ability to enjoy your life. I think that's the real test - how much you enjoy your life regardless of your feelings, your possessions or lack of them, your associations with others, your health or lack of it, and so forth.
I do realize in my heart of hearts that there is no such thing as justice or equality. There just isn't. Not on this earth. And I am not guaranteed anything beyond this earthly experience. It cannot be proven to exist. To expect justice, equality, or mercy is to delude oneself.
And to wait for Jesus or some other prophet to come here to equalize things...well, we're still waiting, aren't we? How big a delusion might apocalypticism be? It might be encouraging an absolute laziness. If Jesus or another prophet is going to fix everything, why should we bother? That seems to be the raisin debt that excuses all of our inactions on this earth.
In the meantime, despots, dictators, right-wing lunatics, oppressors, corporations (oppressors), criminals, rapists, sexists, ageists, religious nuts, sexual perverts, and all kinds of truly insane people get away with all kinds of truly unjust, morally reprehensible, and heinous behavior. In fact, many of these behaviors and evil people are actually rewarded.
How does all this get reconciled? Do we just tolerate and passively accept this state of being forever? No guts. No glory. That is why poverty, joblessness, exploitation, abuse, and insanity of every stripe prevail and are never rectified. The human species has one metric fuck-ton of amends to make even if there is no God and no Savior. And if there is, then I believe that Jesus did not come here to help us become rich and wasteful, and Jesus didn't come to bring us Peace of Mind. How can anyone have peace of mind when there is no much injustice and insanity to eliminate? Anyone who cannot see the colossal injustices on this earth is blind in more ways than one.
By the looks of things, I guess there are billions of people who do not believe in Karma or in the Great Hereafter where all is meted out as Justice and Mercy because there is one helluva lot of killing/retribution going on here on Planet Earth.
The irony is that most of these self-motivated retributionists profess to believe in God or Allah or Somebody Up There, and if they believe that God/Allah/SomebodyUpThere said THOU SHALT NOT KILL, then all this killing makes no sense to me. It is a walking contradiction. It looks to me like they justify it by claiming to exact retribution by killing in the name of God/Allah/SomebodyUpThere. It is insanity. Moral bankruptcy. Ethical malignancy. It's all just gigantically wrong.
I used to believe in spiritual and psychological consequences too, based mostly on fairy tales, but now I am not sure that I do. If I believe that resentment will ultimately harm me, then it probably will. But if I feel the entity known as resentment (or any other feeling) and don't buy into the idea (BS) that resentment harms me, then it probably won't. There is no proof of it one way or the other.
I think when any feeling (any feeling on the human continuum of feelings from love to hate) interferes with your ability to live your life, then that is probably harmful, but we're all guilty of that. Who lives a truly authentic, fulfilled, autonomous, and self-actualized life? Hardly anybody. Maybe nobody.
I think being a realist and dispensing with as much bullshit as possible inside your head and heart is probably the cleanest and least complicated way of living because then all these mental gyrations and ideations do not interfere with your ability to enjoy your life. I think that's the real test - how much you enjoy your life regardless of your feelings, your possessions or lack of them, your associations with others, your health or lack of it, and so forth.
I do realize in my heart of hearts that there is no such thing as justice or equality. There just isn't. Not on this earth. And I am not guaranteed anything beyond this earthly experience. It cannot be proven to exist. To expect justice, equality, or mercy is to delude oneself.
And to wait for Jesus or some other prophet to come here to equalize things...well, we're still waiting, aren't we? How big a delusion might apocalypticism be? It might be encouraging an absolute laziness. If Jesus or another prophet is going to fix everything, why should we bother? That seems to be the raisin debt that excuses all of our inactions on this earth.
In the meantime, despots, dictators, right-wing lunatics, oppressors, corporations (oppressors), criminals, rapists, sexists, ageists, religious nuts, sexual perverts, and all kinds of truly insane people get away with all kinds of truly unjust, morally reprehensible, and heinous behavior. In fact, many of these behaviors and evil people are actually rewarded.
How does all this get reconciled? Do we just tolerate and passively accept this state of being forever? No guts. No glory. That is why poverty, joblessness, exploitation, abuse, and insanity of every stripe prevail and are never rectified. The human species has one metric fuck-ton of amends to make even if there is no God and no Savior. And if there is, then I believe that Jesus did not come here to help us become rich and wasteful, and Jesus didn't come to bring us Peace of Mind. How can anyone have peace of mind when there is no much injustice and insanity to eliminate? Anyone who cannot see the colossal injustices on this earth is blind in more ways than one.
Hermitage
Is it just me, or are people more selfish, rude, inconsiderate, narcissistic, and ungrateful now than they used to be? These are some of the reasons I generally dislike people (I suppose "hate" is too strong a word). Not only do these adjectives apply but also those of violent, hate-filled, sarcastic, and completely lacking in compassion.
Hermitage might be an option to consider because it's only getting worse out here, and I see no sign of improvement. This is a sick global society. You don't even need to watch cable television "news" to discover that truth, but if you need a good dose of cynicism, just turn on the TV or radio.
And yet, it doesn't do any good spiritually to keep score. That is a lesson I am still learning. It's a damn hard one to learn (not to judge, not to keep score). It might actually be impossible never to succumb to that strong (and almost automatic response) temptation, but it does nothing (discernible to me) for one's spiritual journey to judge or keep score. I know that from an intellectual perspective, but operationally that's a hard one for me to practice with any consistency. It's just too easy to judge, resent, and keep score.
The scary (or liberating, depending on one's point of view) proposition is that perhaps all of these concepts (spirituality, judgment, resentment, love, compassion, etc.) are simply illusions we create to comfort ourselves. Maybe nothing is "real" after all except what we think is real. Sigh.
Hermitage might be an option to consider because it's only getting worse out here, and I see no sign of improvement. This is a sick global society. You don't even need to watch cable television "news" to discover that truth, but if you need a good dose of cynicism, just turn on the TV or radio.
And yet, it doesn't do any good spiritually to keep score. That is a lesson I am still learning. It's a damn hard one to learn (not to judge, not to keep score). It might actually be impossible never to succumb to that strong (and almost automatic response) temptation, but it does nothing (discernible to me) for one's spiritual journey to judge or keep score. I know that from an intellectual perspective, but operationally that's a hard one for me to practice with any consistency. It's just too easy to judge, resent, and keep score.
The scary (or liberating, depending on one's point of view) proposition is that perhaps all of these concepts (spirituality, judgment, resentment, love, compassion, etc.) are simply illusions we create to comfort ourselves. Maybe nothing is "real" after all except what we think is real. Sigh.
Die Quickly
The Republicans really do want the Baby Boomer generation to die and to die quickly. They have absolutely no compassion for anyone who isn't rich. I've never seen anything like it. These self-serving politicians are so corrupt and evil that it's frightening. It's time for Jesus to make another appearance. The first thing Jesus can do is to go to Capitol Hill and tell these mofos to stand down and STFU.
There is not a worse evil on this earth than the combination of religion and politics, regardless of what country is involved (Iran or the USA; it matters not). Both of these power-hungry entities are married now in an unholy alliance. South Dakota is trying to pass a law that makes it legal to murder abortion providers. They call it justifiable homicide. The hypocrisy is astounding, and the "logic" is stunning. It's OK to murder somebody because that person is interrupting a pregnancy.
I don't know why they pick on doctors. They should just kill the mother. That's the person who has ultimately made the decision to have an abortion.
Of course, we all know this has nothing to do with moral imperatives. It has everything to do with making women chattel again. As Florynce Rae Kennedy said, "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."
There is not a worse evil on this earth than the combination of religion and politics, regardless of what country is involved (Iran or the USA; it matters not). Both of these power-hungry entities are married now in an unholy alliance. South Dakota is trying to pass a law that makes it legal to murder abortion providers. They call it justifiable homicide. The hypocrisy is astounding, and the "logic" is stunning. It's OK to murder somebody because that person is interrupting a pregnancy.
I don't know why they pick on doctors. They should just kill the mother. That's the person who has ultimately made the decision to have an abortion.
Of course, we all know this has nothing to do with moral imperatives. It has everything to do with making women chattel again. As Florynce Rae Kennedy said, "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Constant Gardener
The book "The Constant Gardener" (2001, John le Carre) is a constant reminder to ask: "How many die or suffer so we may live?" The math comes down to the smallest detail. We watch clean water go down our drains while millions of people in the world drink dirty water or have to walk 35 miles each day for a drink. This world has been arranged in a very lopsided manner. Where is the balance? Almost everything we enjoy comes at the terrible expense of someone else.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)