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[Loba]

Quote

"The Light in the eyes of others, they guide you on your way."

My Lord, I write with the intention of possibly returning to the alignment I left off at before I allowed myself to become distracted by the mundane actions of myself and others... that I should at this point Be well within the age range of handling with dignity and grace, but still have not yet learned.  For your lessons into accepting and working with my oversensitivity, I thank you.  I Will continue to Be mindful about this, and Will further strive towards opening my Heart to you.  I apologize for straying as of late - this infection has cleared up and so I Am not as fearful as I was, and the guiding signs from you have either died down or I cannot See them with the accuracy that I had a few weeks ago.  I wish to plant some seeds in my Heart over the next week, those of compassion and freedom.  I Know that humanity is plagued with an unbalancing, disconnecting disease of the Spirit and I want to bring within myself a chain of causation that allows this to Be leveled out.  I Know that the cure rests within the disease.  To See it is to cure it.  Last night, my heart was beating wildly so I took some extra medicine, in which it began to tick too weakly in my sleep.  I was given some Words that I can't remember and some images that created in me a feeling of discontent, along with a dream that reminded me of body image issues that I was forced to experience in front of a class in a public school system.  So, yes, even within me Now, with this Faith... I still have to remain vigilant to fear and shame.  On some great level, I hope that this work clears me further, allows me to connect to you and to All of them with an authenticity that I Am always striving for.  There is still work to Be done here within myself.  I'm humbled and Am reminded that no matter how "posh" I can get my material to look - I Am still just a neophyte.  I Am sure if I could peek into the Mind of a master I would Be floored at how much further one can go.  This is a blessing.  I Am not ashamed of it.  This means... that the secrets of the Universe and of Life itself are more vast, more astounding and enriching than I could ever dream of.  I Am excited and honored to Be a part of this.  Please have me, please hold me as I build upon my conscience.  You are too Good to Be true, do you Know this?  You do, I'm sure of it. <3

"Ohana means family, and family means nobody is left behind or forgotten."

When I look into the faces of different people from around the world, I Feel emotions of Love and a sense that there is a kindred connection between me and my fellow man.  We are All connected through this web we call Life and Love and it's divine and alive and growing and I have high hopes that it Will become something visibly great.  What a beautiful thing...  When working with the darkness for a time, this video was something I would come back to time and time again and it always set within me a sense of distress.  How can you look at people like this and think that destruction was the proper path to take?  So, like with most things I kept a mental note and a pathway out that if it became anything but Good that I could leave.  And like an abusive partner... it did.  So... I untied myself, and in some sense might still Be untying but I have it within my full intentionality to Be free from things that don't build upon a fair outcome.

But through this process and through this encounter with darkness I've come to understand the need for freedom and to get there, to bring it to Light in its fullest capacity I need to become interconnected with the web of Life in a manner that I can See and Feel and move with, and the best method for this is compassion.  A worldwide compassion that you sink into, one where you recognize that at some point, everything that has been alive has suffered.  You Know it, you Feel it within yourself and you can See it reflected in the outer world - not as something that you take on as a tourist - but a quality that bleeds into you until it Speaks to you through their unheard cries collectively.  And then... they are heard.  And then... you are struck with a genuine responsibility.

This is Wetiko that causes worldwide misery... this... greed that feeds on the human soul reflects itself and its dirty work outwards.  It makes you Feel like you never have enough, that devouring the Life of something else Will get you to where you need to Be.  And from behind the scenes so too as you do to others, it does to you.  Carlos Castaneda calls it the "Flyer", Christianity calls it "Satan, demons or archons".  I Am sure there are many more names All over in every culture for this phenomenon.  What it is, is a collective living karmic reaction of wrong action against the miracle of Life.  It doesn't even really exist in the way that we do, but it likes to imprint itself into the design and create situations where it is reflected in the outside world.  To feed it is to lose yourself in the game and to mistake the material for the spiritual.  To feed your ego instead of your soul.  But it has consequences on everything.  To come face to face with Wetiko is to begin to merge into a black hole that Feels it is the only thing that should exist and it eats you from the inside out as you slowly forget what it means to Be human, to Love your neighbor, to share, to care, to wish and to dream.  When you See it, you Will begin to notice that humanity channels it and it's counterpart, the Light - and that these warring factions battle for your time, your attention and your Life force.  You Will See it in art, music, in the mental attitudes of yourself and others around you, just sitting there almost mocking you and sticking out like a sore thumb while most of the world remains completely unaware that they are influenced.

Holy Spirit, my intention is to return to this sense of global compassion and work under the wiring, I want to carry within me a freedom for those forgotten cries.  I Know what it Feels like to slip through the cracks, to Be forgotten, to Feel unworthy, damaged, to hate yourself, to Be overrun by survival needs and hatred, to Be confused, to Be abused and... to Be enslaved.  I Know what it is like to sleep in the middle of winter on a cold couch with nothing but the heat of your blankets - alone... sick without anything to eat but almonds for days.  And not because there isn't food, but because you are too weak to go get it.  I Know what it is like to Be afraid of Death.  To not Know if there is anything looking out for you.  To wonder... what happens next?  Is this it?  I Know what it Feels like to lose hope, to lose your Mind.  To Be cursed.  To Be left with nothing but the Gods and the divine to comfort you.  To Be hoisted into currents of antiquity that you barely understand.  I Know what it is like to Be selfish and greedy, lustful, boastful, proud and stupid.  I Know what it is like to Be stuck... and... I Know what it is like to Be saved, to Be shown the right way, to Be cleaned, held... adored.  I Know what it is like to Be given spiritual meritocracy and I Know the value in humility and saving space.  I Know how easily the human Spirit can Be caught up in the wrong things through faults and circumstance.  I Know wisdom.  I Know foolishness.  I Know angels.  I Know demons.  I Know purity and I Know desecration... I Know Life and I Know Death.  I Know what it is like to look someone in the eyes and to fight for your sense of humanity when they have put a wall between you and them, I Know what it is like to have someone hate you so much that they follow you with a gun and threaten to shoot you Dead.  And finally... I Know of miracles and wishes and blessings, of Faith and prophecy and of the narrow road it takes to maintain All of it with any degree of authenticity.  I Am a normal woman, pregnant with the Word of God on a Good day, pregnant with a golden egg that rests not within my womb, but within my Heart.  And of the fetus?  It is a seed.  A breath of Life.  The water.  To be shared with All things great and small.  My Lord, my Spirit, my God, yours is a nature of my One True Love.  Your presence Speaks to me, and I Am left with the echoes of worlds not yet dreamt.  

… Wait again, I will be much better then
And suddenly, I've restored your faith in me

… Look at the sky

… Look at the sky, I'm still here
I'll be alive next year
I can make something good, oh
Something good

My Lord, I would like to catch them All within a gentle net, to clean them off... to then set them free to build from themselves the most beautiful things from the Heart.  Unimaginably, tenderly, astoundingly perfect things are born from both the chained and the unchained.  You Know this.  I Know this.  I wish for this soul of Mine to Be like a stained glass ball lit from the inside out by the divine sparks within All of the eyes of my fellow man.  I wish to come to you in Peace and in Love, in Light and Dignity with the Grace of a proper ambassador.  I wish to use my Words in the proper way, and so I ask of you, please do not make them official until I have "aligned" them and signed them off with the cross.  Until then, I posit a potentiality that you can guide me through, but due to the vacillation in my behaviour and the nature of this siddhi, I ask this of you because when I take to it and put down that cross then I Know I have been building something from the best in me.  Something... thoughtful, genuine and in the Spirit that I wish to bring forward for the improvement of humanity.  I want you to Be my witness into the collective suffering that this world is overrun with, that I Am All too spoiled to Be exempt from experiencing fully to the level of so many billions of others.

I've been filled with the aching of a promise today, so you must Know.  I've let go of romantic Love, of aching for this thing promised for later, set aside manifestations on selfish and tiny wishes and I make True to my Word and focus on things greater than my personal desires.  And so Now... there is this welling compassion, empathy and sorrow for the victims of tragedy, of which there are so many.  I don't Feel momentarily was poetic, I could slide into this paradigm, take my own pain, my own bleeding Heart and give of myself to others my purest intentions.  I would Love to have a Christ-like understanding into the nature of human suffering, to Be connected to the war-ravished child across the world and comfort him or hers little Spirit, to say, "I Am so sorry.  You deserve so much more.  Your pain is my pain, too."  I think of small animals being shoved into cages to Be used in the fur industry - born to suffer.  As above, so below.  As I Am set free from my chains, I ask for you to set them free.  Can we fix it?  Can we rebuild it?

I still Feel a sense of shame for past behaviour and also a sense of imposter syndrome.  I Know it Will Be important to drop it, but as it still runs through me on some days, I still get caught in old patterns and have to bring myself forward again, I think it would Be a Good idea to maintain a sense of humility and caution.  Help me, Lord, to hold space for others.  To mean it.  To really, deep in my bones, mean every Word.  Don't let me become a hypocrite with this.  I've noticed that with the promise of Good things, that this can taint the authenticity of genuine altruism.  I Feel that I would do it, even if there was the promise of nothing, as I've empathized without the implicit knowledge of things in the afterlife before.  But Now that there is this extra element, it kind of takes from the experience insofar in that I Am often trying to discern if my actions fall in line and, although this is helpful for the manifestation of Good, it also has a downside in that it creates a limitation in what was once absolutely, purely authentic.  The only problem is that I was so easily brought back down into negativity, that I had to Be corrected.  Pure altruism is difficult to develop, but one that I hope my honesty can help sort out.  It reminds me that the Masters really Knew their craft, and that I can really only emulate it within reason.  I Am still very flawed, still very fallible.  But despite that... let's try our best to make something with the Spirit of the Highest Good.

  Amen.
"Greed is the lack of confidence of one's own ability to create." - Vanna Bonta

My Lord, I look at babies like this, hungry and scared and I Feel a sadness for the way Life has been set up for people who deserve as much as I have.  You gave me so much.  And others are given so little.  Why does it happen this way?  What are innocent children and animals, suffering at the hands of greed given to make up for All that they had to endure?  Why do you come to some people in their time of need, people like myself and yet others search for you and never find you, or they don't even Know you're there?  They Live and die as if you never were.  What happens to them?  I can Be a witness to this, I can take it within me and cry for it, I can wish for change but what I can't do is understand why this sort of system was ever implemented?  How did it happen that so much dysfunction has occurred?  Why does it run through humans like this unchecked?  We've developed so many methods for unearthing the nature of evil within ourselves that it should, so it seems, Be something that humans would not only want to do, but would put as a priority?  How has this remained so elusive?  How can people Live their lives day after day and not Feel some sense of unease about it All?

Looking further into myself, doing research, I See that in order to remove it, I can learn it and See it out there, but ultimately the solution rests within me.  That every instance of it becoming less than a compassionate response is something to delve into.  And that compassion in turn builds upon the creativity that is necessary to implement a "New World".

What Causes Greed and How can We Deal with it?

Religious thought can help us understand human nature and provide ethical guidance, including in cases of greed like the ones mentioned here.

Anxiety and injustice

• The work of the 20th-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr on human anxiety offers one possible explanation for what might drive people to seek more than they already have or need.
• Niebuhr was arguably the most famous theologian of his time. He was a mentor to several public figures. These included Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian who served in the Kennedy White House, and George F. Kennan, a diplomat and an adviser on Soviet affairs. Niebuhr also came to have a deep influence on former President Barack Obama.
• Niebuhr said the human tendency to perpetuate injustice is the result of a deep sense of existential anxiety, which is part of the human condition. In his work “The Nature and Destiny of Man,” Niebuhr described human beings as creatures of both “spirit” and “nature.”
• As “spirit,” human beings have consciousness, which allows them to rise above the sensory experiences they have in any given moment.
• Yet, at the same time, he said, human beings do have physical bodies, senses and instincts, like any other animal. They are part of the natural world and are subject to the risks and vulnerabilities of mortality, including death.
• Together, these traits mean that human beings are not just mortal, but also conscious of that mortality. This juxtaposition leads to a deeply felt anxiety, which, according to Niebuhr, is the “inevitable spiritual state of man.”
• To deal with the anxiety of knowing they will die, Niebuhr says, human beings are tempted to – and often do – grasp at whatever means of security seem within their reach, such as knowledge, material goods or prestige.
• In other words, people seek certainty in things that are inherently uncertain.

Hurting others

• This is a fruitless task by definition, but the bigger problem is that the quest for certainty in one’s own life almost always harms others. As Niebuhr writes:  “Man is, like the animals, involved in the necessities and contingencies of nature; but unlike the animals he sees this situation and anticipates its perils. He seeks to protect himself against nature’s contingencies; but he cannot do so without transgressing the limits which have been set for his life. Therefore all human life is involved in the sin of seeking security at the expense of other life.”

"It's the greed killing dreams."

In this time
The pain just wears me down
The darkest night we've known
And only peace and sound
I'm breaking out
And you still bleed
Come rescue me
Oh rescue me

From this life

Oh my love
I watched the days go down
I'm in the dark right now
It's like my will is gone
I'm breaking out
Oh yes now bleed
Come rescue me
Oh rescue me

From this life

Quote

What is freedom?

Notes:

• I think that freedom is something that exists solely in your mind.
• You can see the world with hundreds of thousands of people, count endless adventure and experience seemingly infinite boundlessness, yet you can feel lost, drowning, trapped and lonely.  Never settled, always seeking, one day asking yourself - what is freedom?
• If you ask people from different continents, countries and places, some have a very clear opinion.
• In a nutshell freedom is having choices in all aspects of life.  I can decide everything by myself without being influenced by other people.  To be who you want to be.  Do what you wants to do.  To live without judgement in a free country.  An elaborated definition.   Freedom means creativity without borders.  The flexibility to choose your future.  To be able to express yourself in the world without need for apology.  Setting up your life in a way where neither your mindset nor your bank account can deter you from doing whatever you want.  Not making compromises with yourself, who you are, your passions in order to provide for you and your family.  Sometimes romantic.  To choose the place we want to live.  Stepping out of trying to earn my own place, and stepping into unconditional love.  Where you can reach your fullest potential.  Freedom means to follow your heart.  Pure happiness and love is true freedom.  Often poetic.  Freedom means no boundaries.  To exist like the wind, like the air, like the breeze.  Love is freedom and freedom is love.  Open to everything, attached to nothing.  Freedom is imagination.  Freedom is will.  Freedom is peace.
• Yet we would be astonished if we knew how similar we think.
• Being able to do whatever you want.  Not being worried.  Not planning, thinking about the future and past.  Choose your own path in life.  The right to choose your own way.  Whatever you want for yourself.
• If you give us a little more time, to question this concept, we might struggle to find an answer.
• Freedom is the possibility of doing dumb shit and learning from it and trying again and becoming a better person and loving.  The ability to think, speak, write.  Freedom means more than that.
• Rethink, resign and consider and realize it's not that easy.  We start to see new horizons and the responsibility behind them.
• We are quite privileged.   Physical freedom, spiritual freedom, mental freedom, financial freedom, some of us may be able to experience all, some may be able to experience one, some none.  Once you are integrated in a society or a community, you must always remember that your freedom can negatively influence the freedom of others.  Respect.  As long as it doesn't hurt or impede on anybody else.  Freedom has its own limits.  It's a responsibility to do what you want.  You have to be responsible.  The definition of freedom says you don't need it or have consequences but the reality of the world is you do.
• What seems natural and obvious to us in the different culture might mean the world for someone else.
• Regardless of where you're from, the language you speak or the color of your skin.  To come out of the cast, that is the freedom for us.  If someone else is making your choices then it's not really your story that's being told.  You can use your freedom wisely.  Freedom gives me the ability to go home at the end of the night to see my family and it gives me the ability to also make a difference in the world.  We are all just trying to be the best us and in the end we have to walk the walk.  The choice is up to you.  You decide.
• So rather than asking what freedom means maybe you should ask yourself, "Are you free?"   Maybe there's less thoughts to be wasted, less time to be spend searching and more necessity to ultimately let go and be.  Imagine we would stop asking, stop seeking and start to really appreciate and see, maybe the meaning of it all is very simple.

So... be happy.

It was me on that road
But you couldn't see me
Too many lights out, but nowhere near here
It was me on that road
Still you couldn't see me
And then flash lights and explosions

Road's end getting nearer
We cover distance, but not together
I am the storm and I am the wonder
And the flashlights, nightmares
And sudden explosions

I don't know what more to ask for
I was given just one wish

It's about you and the sun
A morning run
The story of my maker
What I have and what I ache for
I've got a golden ear
I cut and I spear
But what else is there?

Road's end getting nearer
We cover distance still not together
If I am the storm, if I am the wonder
Will I have flashlights, nightmares
And sudden explosions?

There's no room where I can go and
You've got secrets, too
I don't know what more to ask for
I was given just one wish

Quote

"Can we do better than this?"

Hear the sound of music
Drifting in the aisles
Elevator Prozac
Stretching on for miles

The music of the future
Will not entertain
It's only meant to repress
And neutralize your brain

Soul gets squeezed out
Edges get blunt
Demographic
Gives what you want

Now the sound of music
Comes in silver pills
Engineered to suit you
Building cheaper thrills

The music of rebellion
Makes you want to rage
But it's made by millionaires
Who are nearly twice your age

One of the wonders of the world is going down
It's going down I know
It's one of the blunders of the world that no-one cares
No-one cares enough

Dominion - A Highly Detailed Factory Farming Documentary that Exposes Collective Animal Cruelties

From beasts we scorn as soulless
in forest, field and den
the cry goes up to witness
the soullessness of men
-M. Frida Hartley

Notes:

• Most people consider themselves animal lovers.  We recognize them not as object, but as complex beings with whom we share the planet, our lives, our homes.  We take pleasure from their pleasure, we anguish over their pain, celebrating their intelligence and individuality as we welcome them into our families or revere them in their natural element.  
• The thought of causing them harm or suffering is to many unbearable, so for those who feed, clothe or entertain us we choose to follow a narrative that minimizes or altogether eliminates their suffering.
• The picturesque family farm and the iconic loving farmer, a humane and painless end, a small price happily paid for a life well lived.  An arrangement of mutual benefit.  Hidden by this narrative, out of sight out of mind, they cease to be individuals, only known as livestock, faceless units of production in a system of incomprehensible scale, exempt from the cruelty laws that protect our companion animals.  Their suffering unseen and unheard, their value determined only by their usefulness to humankind, rationalized by a belief in our own superiority and the notion that might equals right.  A notion that must be questioned.

Pigs - used for food, entertainment and research

• In the 1960's there were around 50,000 pig farms in Australia.  Today there are less than 1,400 and yet the total number of pigs bred and slaughtered for food has increased.
• As of 2015, 49 farms housed 60 percent of the countries total pig population.
• Most pigs bred for food begin life in a farrowing crate.  A small pen with a central cage designed to allow the piglets to feed from the mother - the sow - while preventing her from moving around.
• The frequency of stillborn or mummified piglets generally increases with each litter as the sow's bodies become less capable of handling the large litter sized encouraged by the industry
• 10-18 percent of piglets who are born alive won't make it until weening age, succumbing to disease, starvation or dehydration or being accidentally crushed by their trapped mothers.
• Included in the death toll are the runts of the litter who are considered economically unviable and killed by staff.
• Those who survive the first few days are mutilated without pain relief.  Their tails and teeth cut to reduce cannibalism and pieces cut from their ears, or tags punched in as a means of identification. 
• They are taken from their mothers at three to five weeks of age.  Most are destined for slaughter at around five months later.
• As they age they are moved into grower pens crowded together in their own waste.
• Some female pigs are kept on to replace the sows in the breeding cycle, carefully selected for their perceived ability to produce large litters.
• Most pig farms utilize artificial insemination rather than natural mating at it allows them to impregnate up to 30 to 40 female pigs from a single boar.
• Workers collect the semen by masturbating the boars, then insert it into the sows via a raised catheter known as a pork stork.
• Boars are still used to excite the females prior to insemination but are prevented from mating.
• When confirmed pregnant the sow is moved into one of two types of confined housing for the entirety of her 16 week gestation.  
• Sow stalls are individual cages in which like the farrowing crates, sows are only able to take one or two steps forwards or backwards and are unable to turn around.
• While gradually being phased out by piggeries, sow stalls remain legal with no penalties for longer than the voluntary limit of five days, this is similar to the ban on sow stalls in the European Union which allows four weeks in them per pregnancy. 
• When given the choice, pigs will relieve themselves far away from where they sleep and eat.
• The extreme confinement takes a heavy psychological toll.
• The alternative, group housing sees pregnant pigs packed into small concrete pens.  A lack of space and stimuli can cause the pigs to become aggressive.  
• Those who fall into the effluent system through gaps in the flooring are left to starve or drown in the river of waste.
• A week before they are due to give birth, they are moved into the farrowing crate cages where they will remain for four to six weeks.
• Unable to exercise the sow's muscles will weaken to the point where she has difficulty standing up or lying down, to minimize muscle wastage, workers will force her to stand up at least once daily.
• She will develop pressure sores from the heard surfaces.  Or prolapses and infections from the physical strain of repeated farrowing in poor conditions, which can also lead to partial paralysis, preventing her from reaching the food and water at the front of her cage, or can even lead to death in the cage.
• She will watch helplessly as her piglets fall ill and die or get mutilated and abused by workers until they are taken away from her.
• She will endure this cycle four times over two years before she is replaced and sent to slaughter or killed and dumped on site.
• The term "bred free range" simply means that pigs are born outside in small huts, but then spend the rest of their lives in sheds, facing the same over crowding, health and behavioural issues as any other, while kept knee deep in their own waste.
• Capable of living ten to twelve years, most pigs are killed at five to six months old, packed in transportation trucks at the piggery and driven off long distances to the slaughter house without food, water or protection from extreme heat or cold.
• At the slaughterhouse they will wait in small concrete or metal holding pens, overnight and without food or limited access to water.
• In the morning they are forcefully herded to the kill floor, often with an electric prodder.  
• The most common method of stunning and killing pigs in Australia, touted as the most humane is a carbon dioxide gas chamber. A system of rotating cages lowers the fully conscious pigs two or three at a time into the heavily concentrated gas, which begins to burn their eyes, nostrils, sinuses, throat and lungs while suffocating them.
• Lower concentrations of carbon dioxide would cause less pain and stress but would take longer to render them unconscious making it economically unviable.  
• Sows are sent into the chambers one at a time, because of their size the gas is less effective, with some emerging partially conscious, in which case they will be electrically stunned afterwards.
• Tipped out of the other side of the chamber, the pigs throats are cut and bled out.
• Electrical stunning used in smaller slaughterhouses has a higher chance of failure.  Incorrect amperage, positioning of the stunner or length of time or failing to cut the throat quickly can lead to the pig being paralyzed and unable to move while still capable of feeling pain or regaining consciousness while bleeding out.
• Blinking and rhythmic breathing are strong indicators of consciousness.  One by one they are picked off in front of each other.
• Captive bolt pistols are another option used, the penetrative variety fire a rod through the skull of the animal to permanently damage their brain, preventing them from regaining consciousness, while non-penetrative bolt pistoles deliver bunt force trauma much like a hammer.
• Effective stunning requires the gun to be angled in position at the correct part of the head which is often difficult if the head is not restrained.
• Having witnessed tehri littermates being killed before them and being able to smell the blood on the floor they are reluctant to enter the knockbox. 
• The bold gun is even less effective on larger pigs like sows, for them a rifle may be used as an alternative, in this case the accuracy is even more difficult.
• After they have been bled out, pigs are dropped into tanks of scalding hot water in order to soften their skin and remove bristles and hair.
• Those who have not been stunned and killed properly finally die by drowning.
• The waste products, the skin, bones, hooves, guts and fat are trucked to the rendering plant to be turned into lard for use in food, soaps, lubricants, biofuel or gelatin.  
• Wild pigs were introduced to Australia with the first fleet and now occupy around 40 percent of the country.  
• The practice of pig digging involves hunters releasing trained highly aggressive dogs to track, chase and maul live pigs, keeping them pinned down until the hunters are able to catch up and finish them off with a knife.
• Despite wild pigs being declared a pest animal, it is not uncommon for hunters to release young piglets into national parks for them to return later to hunt them.

Egg-laying hens - Used for food

• For egg-laying hens, life begins at the hatchery.  Eggs collected from the parent birds are stored, incubated and hatched over 31 days.
• The male and female chicks are sorted onto separate conveyer belts.  They have been genetically modified to make the males a different colour to allow for quick sorting.
• Unable to make eggs and a different breed used for meat, the male chicks are considered waste products or any females that are deformed or weak.  They are sorted onto a separate conveyer belt from the healthy females in their first day of life and sent into an industrial blender called a macerator.  
• This practice is legal and referred to as humane by the RSPCA.  
• Smaller hatcheries may use carbon dioxide gas or simply suffocate the chicks in plastic bags.
• All commercial egg farms, caged, barn laid, free range, organic, RSPCA approved involve the killing of male chicks that total 12 million in Australia each year.
• Meanwhile the healthy females continue on to painful debeaking machines.  Hens are debeaked to minimize the harm they can do to each other in the confinement of egg farms.
• The chicks are then stacked in trays and trucked to pullet rearing farms, where they will remain for four months until they begin laying eggs.
• A small number of males will be spared in order to serve with a selection of hens as parent birds, laying and fertilizing eggs for the hatchery.  The other hens are sent out to eggs farms across the country.
• Around two-thirds of the 18 million layer hens at any given time in Australia are housed in battery cages.  Each shed can contain up to 100,000 hens with between four and twenty per cage.  Each afforded a space smaller than an A-4 sheet of paper.  
• They are unable to stretch their wings or express natural behaviours such as dust bathing, perching, or foraging. 
• Due to decades of genetic manipulation and selective breeding, they lay an egg almost every day for a total of up to 330 per year, compared to the 10 to 15 that a wild hen would lay.
• As they age, the poor environment and stress of frequent egg laying takes a tole on their health, indicated by the gradual loss of all of their feathers and an increasingly pale comb suggesting anemia.
• Deaths inside the cages are common and due to the size of the facilities can be easily missed for long periods of time, forcing the surviving hens to live on the rotting carcasses.  
• Newer cage systems collect the feces onto conveyer belts beneath the cages while older systems allow it to pile up underneath.  Birds who manage to escape the cages are left to die in these manure pits.
• At 18 months of age after living in the cage for over a year, the egg production has slowed enough to be spent, they are depopulated, pulled from the cages and stuffed into crates, often resulting in bone fractures to due rough handling.
• They are either gassed to death and then buried or rendered or sent to the slaughterhouse and replaced by new four month old hens.
• Up until 2016, there were no national standards on what could be claimed as free range eggs, now free range farms are capped at a maximum outdoor density of 10,000 hens per hector.  One per square meter, still packed together in large sheds.
• Chickens naturally form and live within a social hierarchy called the pecking order but are only able recognize around 100 other chickens.  In sheds or paddocks with thousands of other birds, their inability to maintain this pecking order results in chaos.
• The weak birds are picked on with no ability to escape.  Disease spreads quickly.  An outbreak of avian influenza at a new free range egg farm in 2013 believed to be contracted from wild ducks lead to the culling of over 400,000 farmed hens.
• Many of the larger free ranged farms also have cage farms on the same property, with the eggs from both ending up in the same packing shed.
• A 2009 analysis of egg corporation data indicated that as many as 1 in 6 eggs sold as free range were laid by caged or barn hens.
• As with caged farms, free range hens are sent to slaughter at 18 months of age, far short of their 10 year natural lifespan.
• At the slaughterhouse, the hens are shackled upside down on a moving line and they are lowered into a bath of electrified water to stun them, prior to their throats being cut by an electrified blade, but if they lift their heads, they can miss the stun bath, facing the blade fully conscious and ultimately drowning in scolding water further down the process.
• The slaughtered hens end up in lower grade chicken meat products such as mince or rendered into poultry meal for use in pet food or to be fed back to farm animals.

Broiler (Meat) Chickens - Used for food

• Chickens bred for meat, known as broilers are a larger breed than egg layers, designed through human intervention to grow rapidly to massive sizes.
• Their short life begins at a broiler hatchery.  While both the males and females are used by this industry, these hatcheries also use macerators or gas chambers for weak or deformed birds who aren't expected to make the right weight.
• The surviving day-old chicks are trucked to broiler grow-out farms.
• As of 2016 there were 530 broiler farms in Australia housing around 90 million birds.  Each shed holds 40 to 60 thousand.
• Within their first week of life, a mortality rate of 4 to 6 percent is normal, equating to 1600 to 3600 death chicks per shed, 200 to 500 daily.  The majority of these will have been found dead by workers.  Weak or injured are tossed out alive.
• As they grow, they quickly fill out the available space in the shed, living amongst a build up of their own feces.
• The mortality rate slows, but deaths are still a regular occurrence.  Not far from the sheds, the bodies are piled up and composted.
• Selective breeding, lack of exercise due to overcrowding, artificial lighting and the heavy use of antibiotics which enhance feed absorption have resulted in broiler chickens reaching three kilograms in 35 days, a dramatic increase of natural peak of 2 kilograms in 96 days.  
• Their bodies have great difficulty handling the weight, giving them skeletal, cardiac and metabolic disorders as common problems.
• Of those who make it to the slaughterhouse, 90 percent have an abnormal gate.
• The sheds are not cleaned for the entire 5-7 week cycle, causing a high concentration of ammonia, which can irritate and burn their skin, and impede their respiratory system.
• Chickens sold under the RSPCA approved label are given a single perch running down the middle of the middle of shed, but otherwise the conditions and process are identical.
• Depopulation occurs in low light conditions in the middle of the night when the birds are calmest and unable to see what is happening.  They are caught by hand by contract teams and jammed into plastic crates.  The crate is forklifted onto trucks for transport to the slaughterhouse.
• Like layer hens, they are handled roughly onto by their legs into the automated shackle line, then dipped into the electric stun bath, with any birds who lift their heads proceeding conscious, before having their throats cut open by a rotating blade.  A worker stands by with a knife for any birds who miss the first blade.

Turkeys - Used for food

• Farmed turkeys have been selectively bred to grow so large that they cannot naturally mate so the turkey industry relies on artificial insemination, though considered standard practice at the turkey hatcheries.  
• Highly inquisitive birds they are raised in much the same way as broilers with 10 to 14 thousand per shed, equating 6 turkeys per square meter.
• Genetic alterations and artificial light to maximize feeding contribute to a growth rate double that of their wild counterparts.  They rapidly reach a weight their legs cannot support.
• Living in their own waste, wounds can quickly become infected.  The frequency of deaths increases with age, to an average rate of three to five percent for females near the end of their 12 week lifespan in the sheds, and 10 to 12 percent near the end of their 16 week lifespan.  
• The dead birds are collected and dumped like rubbish.  The rest are trucked to the slaughterhouse, where they are punched, kicked and beaten while being shackled upside down onto the slaughter line.
• Smaller slaughterhouses may use individual killing cones.
• 4 to 5 million are killed every year in Australia, most of which is purchased and consumed around Christmas.  For the rest of the year or for years at a time they are frozen.   

Ducks - Used for food, entertainment, clothing

• As with broiler chickens, macerators are still used in duck hatcheries for the weak or deformed hatchlings who aren't expected to survive the grow-out.
• Dark farming is similar to chicken and turkey farming,  Trucked from the hatchery on their first day of life, ducklings are grown at an accelerated rate over just seven weeks, housed with thousands of others in rarely cleaned sheds where disease and fatalities are common.
• Ducks are aquatic animals so they have weak leg and tight joints as they don't normally need to hold their body weight for extended periods of time.  Where surface water is available, ducks will float for long periods, reducing pressure on their muscle and skeletal system.  
• However, when surface water is denied as in most Australian farms including those labeled as free range, ducks must hold their entire body weight for seven weeks, often much longer for ducks kept for breeding, resulting in lameness, dislocated joints and broken bones.
• Selective breeding, aimed at growing ducks faster and heavier coupled with the insufficient bone formation of their juvenile skeletal system adds more pressure on their weak leg and thigh joints.
• Without water for even dipping their heads, ducks are unable to keep their eyes, nostrils and feathers clean, worsening the risk of disease and blindness.
• Living in their own waste and the resulting high levels of ammonia can cause painful burns on their feet and exacerbate wounds and injuries.
• These poor environmental conditions and overcrowding commonly lead to neurological disease where incoordination and head and neck tremors are followed by paralysis, convulsions, coma and death.
• When sick or injured birds are found by workers, they are killed by having their necks broken.
• After 49 days, they are collected into crates and forklifted onto trucks to be sent to the slaughterhouse.  Many don't survive the trip.
• Just like chickens and turkeys, ducks are hung by their feet onto the slaughter line. 
• The typical electric stun bath is not always effective, with many birds having their throats cut while conscious and eventually dying from blood loss or drowning in the scalding tank.
• As of 2018 three states in Australia have banned the recreational shooting of wild ducks on cruelty grounds, but in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia the practice remains legal during open season each year.
• The population of waterbirds in Victoria has been steadily declining.  In 2017 hitting the lowest numbers in 34 years, yet the hunt continues under justification of increased business to the rural community surrounding the wetlands and enjoyment and satisfaction felt by the hunters.
• Computer simulation estimates and the observations of rescuers on the wetlands indicate that duck shooters leave as many birds wounded and uncaptured as they kill and capture amounting to many thousands of ducks to suffer and die from untreated injuries.  
• Additionally, the bodies of many legally protected species such as the rare and endangered freckled duck have been found in the wetlands during hunting season.
• Around 80 percent of the worlds down and feather used for items like jackets, sleeping bags and bedding come from China, with a live plucking of ducks and geese remains a common practice.  
• This involved painfully ripping the feathers out of the birds skin leaving opened and bloody wounds, a process repeated multiple times before they are slaughtered.
• Even suppliers claiming certification of the responsible down standard have been found engaging in live plucking.  It is impossible to know whether down products come from these farms.

Cows - Used for food, entertainment, clothing, pharmaceuticals 

• Like humans, cows are strongly maternal beings who form close bonds with their young and must give birth in order to produce milk.  
• On dairy farms they are forcefully impregnated every year to keep this milk flowing, usually by artificial insemination rather than natural mating, which requires workers to insert their arm into the cow's anus to hold her cervix in place while injecting her with semen collected from a bull.
• The calves are taken away mere hours after being born so that the milk intended for them can be collected and sold for human consumption.  
• Over the days following separation, the mother bellow day and night, searching for their calves.  They are known to grieve for days or even weeks.
• The male calves called bobby calves are considered useless to the daily industry because they cannot produce milk.  They are kept isolated for five days before herded onto a truck and sent to the slaughterhouse.
• They can be withheld food for the last 30 hours of their lives.  Starved, confused, and desperate for affection they cry for their mothers from the holding pens of the slaughterhouse where they will be killed the following morning.
• Those who avoid the stunner or who are improperly stunned are killed while conscious.  
• Around 700,000 male calves are slaughtered as waste products of the daily industry every year in Australia alone.
• A small number of male calves are grown out for longer, up to 20 weeks to be slaughtered for veal.
• Female calves are also kept isolated, fed on powdered milk replacer, eventually to join the cycle after being impregnated themselves. 
• Two to three times per day the lactating cows are herded into the milk shed and hooked up to industrial milking machines.
• In natural conditions they can live for 20 years, on daily farms they last only 4 to 8 years.  Some known as downers succumbing to the pressure of continuous impregnation and producing ten times more milk than they naturally would.  The rest sent to slaughter when their milk production slows or they become injured.
• Artificial insemination is preferred to natural mating in the beef industry also.  Calved raised for beef are subjected to painful procedures without anesthesia, including disbudding or dehorning, ear tagging, castration either with a blade or by a practice called ringing, where an elastic band is tightly clamped around the testicle restricting blood flow until they rot and fall off and branding with a hot iron.
• Those who get sick typically lack veterinary care and deteriorate quickly.  
• Drugs, including antibiotics, growth hormones, vitamins and supplements and progesterone for maintaining pregnancy are injected or inserted vaginally or orally.
• These and other regular routines like sorting or checking for pregnancy see the cattle forcefully herded through the yard system into a restrain box called a crush for individual attention.
• Around 40 percent of Australia's total beef supply and 80 percent of beef sold in major supermarkets comes from cattle who have spent the last 10 to 15 percent of their lives packed into barren feedlots where they are fattened up with grain before slaughter at 18 months of age.
• They are forced into a knockbox from which they will desperately try to escape.
• The captive bolt gun is the most common method of stunning cows, but the smaller guns are often ineffective against such large animals, causing only pain and limited mobility but not unconsciousness.  A rifle is a less common alternative.  
• In addition to witnessing the animals before them being stunned, killed and sometimes even the processing, in most cases they are also forced to hear their fate from the next room.
• For cows slaughtered while pregnant, the blood from their unborn calves, known as fetal calf serum, or fetal bovine serum is of great value to the pharmaceutical industry fetching around 600 dollars per liter.
• The hides of cows and bobby calves are sent to tanneries to be turned into leather, the majority of which is exported over seas.  
• There is a common misconception that leather is a by-product of the meat industry intended to reduce waste.  It is far more accurate to view it as a co-product.  Sometimes more economically viable than meat to the point where more and more animals are being killed for their skin than flesh.
• Cheap leather for use in shoes, handbags and other items is also imported to Australia, the United States from developing countries like India and Bangladesh.  
• As cows are considered sacred by the Hindu religion, their slaughter is illegal in 24 of India's 29 states.  To be legally slaughtered for leather they must first be transported hundreds/thousands of kilometers to one of these states or Bangladesh. 
• Depending on the route and the number of animals, sometimes in the thousands, much of this transport can occur on foot.  In preparation, many have shoes nailed into their feet and ropes threaded tightly through their noses.
• Exhausted, starving and thirty, many collapse along the way.  Compelled to stand by having their nose ropes pulled or tails broken, being beaten with sticks of having chili pepper rubbed in their eyes.
• For the rest of the journey they are crowded into and out of trucks, their horns piecing and gouging each other and their bones often breaking.
• Those who make it to the slaughterhouse are killed in front of each other without stunning.  Some even skinned alive.  
• The hides are soaked in toxic chemicals known to cause cancer or skin disease, often by children.
• The fundamental concept of rodeos is the physical control of domination over weaker, more vulnerable beings.  Calves, steers and bulls are provoked for the entertainment of spectators in some 240 rodeo events held every year.
• Normally docile animals, they endure tail twisting, electric prodding, and other abuse behind the scenes, as well as the use of metal spurs strapped tightly around their abdomens to make them buck and appear wild.
• With intensity and risk integral factors for an entertaining show, injuries are inevitable. 
• Calf and steer roping involves the lassoing of terrified animals as they try to run away, violently jerking them to a halt and commonly resulting in bruising broken limbs, horns and even necks, ligament tears, internal hemorrhages and subcutaneous tissue damage.

Sheep - Used for food, clothing

• Winter lambing is the practice of impregnating sheep so they give birth in the winter months, so their lambs are weaned in spring when pastures are fertile, and this allows lambs to grow more quickly, it results in 10 to 15 million newborn lambs, roughly one in every four dying within 48 hours of birth from exposure to the harsh cold.
• For sheep farmers this is still preferable to the higher feed costs of lambing in warmer months.
• The merino breed, accounting for around 80 percent of wool production in Australia have been bred to have wrinkled skin, resulting in excessive amounts of wool while making them more prone to fly strike.
• To reduce soiling and fly strike for the lambs who make it to summer, their tails are docked and they are often mulesed at the same time which involves cutting off the skin around their buttocks and the base of their tail with metal shears.  If the lambs are younger than six months it is legal to do this without pain relief. 
• Sheep shearers are paid by the number of sheep shorn, not by the hour so speed is prioritized over precision and there is no requirement for formal training.
• After a few years when they can no longer produce enough wool to be considered profitable, the sheep are sent to slaughter and sold as mutton, while lambs raised for meat are killed between four and twelve months of age, far short of a natural lifespan of twelve to fourteen years.
• 19 million of the 32 million sheep killed each year in Australia go through sale yards, an intermediary between farms and slaughterhouses or private buyers, where animals including cattle, calves, horses, poultry and pigs are auctioned off.
• Heat stress, dehydration, exhaustion are preexisting conditions that are common causes of death at sale yards.
• Most of the sheep are bought by slaughterhouses for their meat.  No animal at a slaughterhouse walks willingly to their death.
• Electrical stunning is often ineffective, causing only pain and terrifying the animals even further in their final moments. 
• Bolt gun stunning is no better.  Regardless of how effective stunning may appear it is impossible to know with certainty whether an animal has been rendered unconscious and not able to feel pain or is just paralyzed and unable to move while feeling everything.
• In their fear and desperation some manage to briefly escape, directly confronted with the bodies of those before them before being forced back into the race knowing that they will be next.

Goats - Used for food, clothing

• Goats are farmed for daily much the same way as cows, repeatedly impregnated to ensure continuous supply of milk.  
• Goat's milk is marketed as more easily digestible for people with allergies.
• Worldwide people drink goat's milk more than any other animal.
• The male kids, unable to produce any milk are considered waste products and killed on farms shortly after birth, while the female kids are grown to become milk producers themselves, while some farms will raise and sell their extra goats for meat.
• The lactating mothers are milked twice daily for up to ten years before slaughter, at their peak producing four liters of milk per day to be sold fresh, turned into cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt, and soap.
• Australia is the largest exporter of goat meat in the world, the majority of it going to the United States.  Only ten percent comes from goats bred and farmed for meat, the rest from ranged land goats, a wild breed originating from escaped domestic goats brought from European settlers.
• These free roaming goats are captured and transported to feedlots known as goat depots where they are fattened prior to slaughter. 
• Pregnant animals being set to slaughter is not uncommon, and inevitably some will give birth on the transport trucks or holding pens shortly before they are herded to the kill floor, their babies left behind to die from starvation or exposure, calling out for their dead mothers. 

Fish - Used in food, scientific research

• Salmon is the most popularly eaten fish in Australia, with almost 40,000 tons consumed every year. 
• They are farmed offshore in underwater cages primarily in bays on the South and West costs of Tasmania due to colder waters.
• Each cage can hold up to 60,000 fish transferred from hatcheries at 12-18 months of age.
• As they grow, their space within the cages decreases until they are packed tightly together.
• A 2017 study on farmed salmon in Australia, Norway, Chili, Scotland and Canada found that half of the fish in these farms are deaf as a result of accelerated growth rates deforming their sound receptors.
• In the one year period to September 2016, over 21,000 tons of uneaten fish food and untold amount of excrement ended up in the harbor, such high levels of pollution lead to low levels of oxygen in the water, disease, contributing to large numbers of deaths in the farms.
• Numerous mass mortality incidents from 2015-2018 have been attributed to a mixture of suffocation, human error and disease.
• After 15-18 months in the ocean cages, when they have reached about 7 kilograms each, the salmon are sucked up through a tube into a harvest vessel where they are killed or transported to tanks to processing facilities.
• Barramundi are farmed in all states except Tasmania, in the colder southern states they are raised with thousands of others in small indoor tanks.
• In the norther states, they are raised offshore sea cages similar to salmon farms our outdoor pond systems used also for trout. 
• The supposed humane method of harvesting and killing farmed fish is to suck them into icy water to freeze them to death.  Far from human it is a slow and painful death, sometimes taking a half an hour to kill.
• Fish killed for sashimi, a Japanese delicacy favoring freshness are stabbed in the head before having their jugular vein cut open and are then put back in the ice to bleed out.
• Stores and restaurants displaying live fish allow customers intent on freshness to choose which they want killed.
• Three quarters of the seafood consumed in Australia is imported from other countries - prawns, salmon, tuna.
• Commercial fishing trawlers drag large nets through the water behind them, capturing all species in their wake.
• Around 85 percent of the world's fish stocks are now being fished to full capacity or are overfished, at the current rate it is anticipated that our oceans will be void of fish by 2048.

Rabbits - Used for food, clothing, experimentation, pets

• The rabbit farming industry in Australia is a struggling one, highly contagious diseases to irradicate wild rabbits, carried by insects can quickly wipe out entire farms, while others struggle to compete with cheaper priced wild rabbits trapped and killed by hunters.
• Farmed meat rabbits spend their entire lives in wire cages suspended above the floor unable to exhibit any natural behaviours like digging, hiding or jumping.
• A build up of feces on the floor beneath them creates high levels of ammonia.
• Female rabbits kept for breeding are kept in this condition for up to 57 weeks to produce seven litters.
• Most of the rabbits are capable of living for 8 to 12 years are killed at 12 weeks old.
• Three to four thousands rabbits are used for scientific research and testing each year in Australia.
• Most fur products sold in Australia are important from overseas, much harvested from rabbits. 
• Australia also imports fur from China, the world's largest fur exporter.  
• Of ten fur farms visited by an undercover investigator, half engaged in the practice of plucking the fur from live rabbits, a process repeated every three months between which the rabbits lived in wire cages.  Plucking results in longer more profitable hair compared to sheering or clipping.
• As rabbits grow age they grow less fur and are hung up and skinned for a final harvesting, sometimes while still alive.
• Worldwide over one billion rabbits are killed for their fur every year.

Minks - Used for clothing, cosmetics

• Minks are a common source of fur for clothing, accessories and eyelash extensions.
• There are no mink farms in Australia, their fur is imported for over seas. 
• In the wild they would individually occupy up to 25 hundred acres of wetland habitats.
• Despite generations of being bred for fur, these naturally inquisitive and solitary animals suffer greatly in captivity.  
• Cramped in small wire cages where bored and stress lead to frantic pacing and self mutilation.
• Minks used for breeding are kept in these cages for four or five years, giving birth to a litter each year of three or four surviving kittens who are slaughtered and skinned at six months old.
• Gas chambers or enclosed boxes filled engine exhaust are common ways of killing the minks but are not always lethal, resulting in some waking up while being skinned.
• Anal electrocution or simply breaking their necks are common alternatives.

Foxes - Used for clothing, entertainment

• After minks, foxes are the second most commonly farmed animal for fur, facing many of the same problems.
• Chinese fur farmers claim that their margins are so slim they can't afford to kill foxes with anything but the most brutally efficient of methods, with many foxes being skinned alive to save time and effort.
• Introduced to Australia by British settlers for their traditional sport of fox hunting and later to control the spread of rabbits, foxes are now classified as pests across the country with number at around 7 million.
• The hunting and shooting of foxes on personally owned land is legal in all states.
• Often consumed accidently by native wildlife or companion animals like dogs, the most common method of reducing numbers is the use of 1080 poison baits.  1080 is colorless, odorless and tasteless.  Causing slow agonizing deaths to all its victims.

Dogs - Used for pets, entertainment, scientific research, clothing

• While Australia, the EU and the U.S. have banned the import of dog and cat fur, investigations shows that Chinese dog and cat fur is frequently mislabeled as fox, rabbit or mink.
• Each year in China, around 2 million dogs and cats are bred, stolen from homes or taken from the street, squeezed into wire cages and sometimes transported for days without food or water to be hanged, bled, beaten or strangled to death or even skinned alive.
• Around 450 thousand puppies are sold in Australia each year, around 85 percent come from unregistered breeders, but with minimal oversight in place, even the registered breeders may operate puppy factories, churning out both pure and mixed breed puppies for sale in pet stores or online.
• In these factories in can be entirely legal to keep a mother dog confined to a barren concrete cell in a shed for 23 hours a day, continually reimpregnated. 
• They are denied love and companionship, treated instead as breeding machines.
• These cute puppies sold for thousands of dollars often suffer from diseases or other health conditions or behavioural difficulties as a result of the conditions they were exposed to on the farm and generations of selective breeding.
• Meanwhile an estimated 250,000 surrendered or stray dogs and cats are euthanized each years in shelters and pounds across the country, the vast majority healthy, but unwanted.
• Despite numerous widely published scandals in recent years, greyhound racing continues to be a large and powerful gambling and entertainment industry around the world.
• The rapid acceleration and extreme speed at which these large dogs chase the lure around a track inevitably results in collisions, falls and injuries - the most frequent being muscle tears, ligament ruptures and tarsal fractures.
• Each week on the tracks up to 200 dogs are recorded injured with 6-10 greyhounds dying on track or being put down afterwards.
• Racing greyhounds being their careers at around 18 months of age and finish by the time they are 4.5 years old.  Between 13,000 and 17,000 greyhounds are killed each year in Australia.  50-70 percent or more were killed because they were considered too slow or unsuitable for racing.
• There is a growing body of evidence showing greyhounds are frequently killed in inhumane ways, with trainers preferring gunshot or bludgeoning over paying for a vet to euthanize.  The dogs bodies are dumped in pits on private properties or scattered in bushland.
• The use of live animals as bait when training greyhounds to chase the lure, though illegal has been found to be widespread.  85-90 percent of trainers engage in the practice.
• Untold numbers of terrified possums, rabbits, piglets, chickens and kittens have been torn apart for the sake of teaching otherwise gentle and sleepy animals to run around a track.

Horses - Used for entertainment, scientific research, pharmaceuticals, food

• Horses are not skeletally mature until around five years of age, but commonly their racing careers being when they are only two due to the lure of higher prize money and a quicker return on investment.
• This drastically increases the risk of injuries, with up to 80 percent suffering from shin soreness or dorsal metacarpal disease.
• Most race examinations have found a high prevalence of blood in the horses windpipe and lungs along with an increasing frequency and severity of stomach ulcers as training and racing progressed.
• On the track they are painfully whipped to encourage greater speeds.  Race rules limit whipping in the earlier stages of the race but in the last 100 meters when the horses are fatigued and less able to respond there are not limits and they are whipped relentlessly until the finish line.
• Jumps racing is statistically nineteen times more dangerous than flat racing, with violent falls a regular occurrence.  
• Roughly half of the horses involved in jumps races each year disappear, quietly exiting the industry in unknown circumstances, never to race or be heard from again or killed on track with green screen erected to skew the view of race goers.
• Nationally 11-12,000 racing horses are newly registered each year while the same number leave the industry largely as a result of poor performance, unsuitable temperaments or injuries.
• Many of these end up at knackeries where they are killed for petfood or to feed racing greyhounds, others end up at one of two licensed horse abattoirs that export horse meat for human consumption.
• Horses are also used in rodeos.

Camels - used for entertainment, clothing, scientific research, pharmaceuticals, food

• Camels were brought to Australia in the 18000's to be used for transport then released into the wild following the advent of automobiles.
• By 2008 their population was around 600,000 leaving the government to establish a culling project that halved their numbers, primarily by shooting them from helicopters but also by rounding them up and trucking them to slaughter houses for export to the United States and Middle East, a practice which continues today.
• Having spent their entire lives roaming freely without human contact, the sudden confinement and forceful handling is completely foreign to them.
• An increasing number of camels caught in the wild are being diverted to camel dairies, an expanding industry that promotes itself as a healthier alternative to cow milk products and a less wasteful alternative to aerial culling.

Mice - Used for scientific research, pets

• Between six and ten million animals are used for research and testing purposes in Australia every year, including one to two million mice.
• Many of these experiments involve live surgical procedures without pain relief or exposure to toxins or diseases.
• All mice subjected to research or testing will be killed as they cannot legally be released into the wild.
• Carbon dioxide gassing or overdosing  with anesthetic isoflurane through gas or injection are two common ways of killing mice when they have served their purpose.
• These days scientific exploration and discovery deals with nuances of human physiology of which animals are not appropriate models.
• A 2015 study by the National Institutes of Health in the United States found that a staggering 95 percent of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal testing goes on to fail in human trials.
• Uncritical reliance on the results of animal tests and disregard of potentially more accurate alternatives utilizing human tissue, cells, cadavers, simulators and computational models may have cost the health and lives of tens of thousands of humans, and billions of animals.

Exotic Animals - Used for scientific research, entertainment

• Hundreds of macaques, marmosets and baboons are provided annually to Australian research laboratories at three government funded breeding facilities, hidden from public sight behind intense security , these laboratories carry out a variety of biomedical experiments on these highly intelligence animals before discarding them.
• Other primates are held captive in circuses, where they are released from the extreme boredom of their cage only to perform for spectators, or in zoos.
• Captive lions and tigers in Australia serve the same purpose, living a life of boredom and frustration for the entertainment of paying visitors. 
• While on the surface, exhibits showcasing these and other exotic animals lay inspire wonder and excitement, few patrons observe long enough to recognize the repetitiveness of their behaviour.  Signs of a psychological condition common across all animals in captivity subbed zoochosis. 
• In the tropical heat of Queensland, SeaWorld hosts Australia's only captive polar bears.  These animals are naturally adapted for freezing Arctic conditions and have been found in the wild to swim over 70 kilometers in 24 hours with an average travel range of 3,000 kilometers per year.  Here they are confined to an enclosure roughly 30 by 40 meters wide for their entire lives.

Seals and Dolphins - Used for entertainment, food

• Seal shows are a popular attraction at zoos, with seals taught to perform tricks for food in front of an audience. 
• Off stage they languish in small pens like any other zoo animal, swimming constantly in repetitive circles or crying out in distress.
• In the wild, dolphins are known to travel up to 65 kilometers, 40 miles a day and are constantly on the move, foraging for food, playing and fighting within their pods.  They share with humans and great apes alone the trait of self awareness, with evidence of intuition and empathy.  
• There is no captive situation that can provide for all the behavioural needs of these highly intelligent cognitively complex animals.
• Around 80 percent of SeaWorld's Australian dolphins have been bred in captivity and can never be released, their entire lives spent performing daily for the reward of food.
• Achieving the right level of hunger before shows is a crucial consideration for a good performance in what is arguably the park's most popular attraction.
• With over $133 million admission fees annually, less that one percent is spent on their heavily promoted research, rescue and rehabilitation initiatives.  
• Australia's federal government ruled in 1985 that no more dolphinariums be established and that existing ones should be phased out, after receiving evidence that cetaceans in captivity suffer from stress, behavioural problems, breeding abnormalities, high mortality rates and shorter lifespans, even though at initial glance they may seem content with their conditions.
• Today just two facilities remain, able to continue remaining because of a loophole that allowed them to keep and display animals born in captivity, including those bred from rescued wild dolphins, who themselves are required to be rehabilitated and released. 
• The process of rescuing, breeding and releasing allows these parks to keep the gene pools strong to ensure that their shows can continue and that their gates remain open.
• While Australian dolphin parks are unable to capture and import healthy wild dolphins, this remains a reality of the animal entertainment industry elsewhere in the world, with the coastal town of Japan - Taiji - a common point of capture.
• Every year from September to March thousands of dolphins and other small cetaceans are herded into a cove and brutally slaughtered by local fishermen who see them as income or pests.
• Dolphin trainers have been observed assisting fishermen in herding the dolphins picking out a select few to be spared from the slaughter and instead transported to aquariums and dolphin parks around the world.
• Conclusion:
• The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be judged by the way it's animals are treated. 
• What does that say about our world, or about us as a species?
• In our entire recorded history 619 million humans have been killed by war.  We kill the same number of animals every three days and this isn't even including fish and other sea creatures who's deaths are so great they are measured in tons. 
• But before we kill them, we have to breed them, confine and exploit them for food, entertainment, clothing.
• Their entire lives from birth until death are controlled by industries who care for only profit.  An empire of suffering, of suffering, and blood.  Paid for by consumers who are told that their treatment is ethical.  Free-range, local, organic.  That their deaths were humane, the cruelty to animals doesn't happen here in our country, and if it does, our government, our authorities, will find it and stamp it out.
• And us, as consumers, have little reason to think otherwise, because to eat and use animals is normal, we've done it forever.  
• Because the products for same on supermarket shelves are so far removed from the individual who once existed, some only briefly, some for years without reprieve.
• Individuals who share with us and our companion animals that we love so dearly, our capacity to feel love, happiness, grief and mourning, who share with us our capacity to suffer.
• Our desire to live, to be free, to be seen not as objects, not for our utility to others, but for who we are as individuals.  Beings in our own right, not units of production, not stock.  She, he and they, not "it".
• The truth is, there is no humane way to kill someone who wants to live.  It is not a question of treatment, or better ways of doing the wrong thing.  Bigger cages, smaller stocking densities, or less painful gas. 
• We tell ourselves they have lived good lives, in the end they don't know what's coming, they don't feel a thing.  But they do.  In their final hours, minutes, seconds, there is always fear and there is always pain.  The smells of blood, the screaming of other members of their species, with whom they have shared their entire lives.
• Never a willingness nor a desire to die, but rather a desperation to live and are never shown any mercy or kindness.  They are laughed at, mocked, kicked, beaten, tossed like ragdolls, or sent to the mincer because they were born the wrong sex.
• We take their children, we take their freedom, we take their lives, sending them healthy and whole into a slaughterhouse to come out as packaged pieces on the other side, and we tell ourselves that somehow along the way something humane and ethical happened.
• And in the process we harm ourselves.  We destroy our environment, emitting through animal agriculture more greenhouse gasses than any other industry, tearing down our forests and slaughtering our native animals to make room for farms.
• The world's cattle alone consume enough food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion human each year and yet one in nine humans - 795 million - suffer from chronic malnourishment, and 844 million from lack of clean drinking water while 1000 liters produce one liter of milk, and 15,000 liters for one kilogram of beef.
• And yet we continue to justify animal agriculture by claiming that it is normal, necessary and natural.  That the animal kingdom or certain species within it are inferior to ourselves because they lack the specific type of intelligence, because they are weaker and cannot defend themselves.
• We believe that in our apparent superiority that we have earned the right to exercise power, authority and dominion over those we perceive as superior for own own short-sighted ends.
• It is a justification that has been used before by the white man to enslave the black, or to take their land and children.  By the Nazis to murder the Jews, by men to silence and oppress women.
• Are we doomed to repeat our history over and over?  Does this superiority complex, this pure selfishness, define who we are as a species?  Or are we capable of something more?

You caused the rain, I brought you pain
But you're the only one that could save me
You caused the rain, I brought you pain
But you're the only one that could save me
Oh save me, please save me
You caused the rain, I brought you pain
But you're the only one that could save me
Oh save me

Sometimes I hit you with a dial tone
You're right but then I say you're wrong
Sometimes I drink too much caffeine
Or go to sleep like I'm Delpo Movin

Sometimes I leave you come along
Sometimes there's skeletons in my bones
And that I drink way too much
Come home I'll hit you with the sucker punch

There's a light, there's a light in your window

Quote

"We are the hearts"

You know, you know why
Now you know we don't go
Come

We walked and drawn our lines
We put our weapons down
Our visions turned to gold and now we're blacking out
Now we're blacking out

Should we pull our feet through the gravel and stone
And the season's storm is gonna be unknown (gonna be unknown)
Be unknown ('cause you never fucking stop)

Imagine we are higher than the sparrows
Casually we're breathing with the pharaohs
Tragically we fall just like the arrows
You will hear our voices echo

So we are the hearts

We're dancing through the smoke
And we don't mind the flames
Now we become the ghost
That you know by name
High, high, high, high

We are the hearts
We will never be bought and sold
We are the hearts
Forever singing woo-hoo (woo-hoo), woo-hoo
We are the hearts
And the future runs through our bones
We are the hearts
Forever singing woo-hoo (woo-hoo), woo-hoo

So you think you understand homelessness?

Notes:

• Talking about homelessness using the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
• The show features five adults living and sometimes working in the city of Philadelphia, "The Gang" are terrible, self absorbed ego-maniacs and can't identify a problem and the solutions they come up with are terrible and would not solve the problem.  Every episode ends with some set of them fighting for their solution to a problem.  Nothing gets solved and The Gang goes on to the next problem that they are after.
• Neighborhood association meetings about homelessness are not always the best meetings to discuss this problem.  Someone is often shouting about the problems of this, drug addiction, mental illness, the need for housing.  The theft.  People having to use the outdoors for public hygiene purposes. 
• People yell about their solutions.  We need more mental health, reopen the institutions and lock everyone up, put everyone in jail and make them sober up.  Some think an app will solve the problem.
• People who are talking about these issues are generally not bad people for being upset with this, many are really great people who are just confused about the problem and what the solution actually is.
• So what is the problem when we talk about homelessness?  Well it is in the word.  A home.  To be without a home.  Therefore the solution is housing.  This sounds simple, but it is hard to accomplish and why this is the solution.
• Many have seen increases in homelessness in most cities.  Between 2017 and now a 20 percent increase of people experiencing homelessness.  Youth homelessness went up two percent.  Up and down the West coast we are seeing increases.  The federal government indicating the driver of the increase nationally was because of California and Oregon.
• What is happening in our states?  We don't suddenly have a lot more people who are poor, we just have a lot less housing that is affordable to people who don't have a lot of money.  More of us are renters and face this burden.  It makes this impossible to access housing.  
• And why is that?  We don't have a right to a house.  Our ability to access housing is fundamentally tied to our wealth.  And this means as the housing market spirals upwards, fewer people can stay in their homes.
• In Portland entire apartment complexes receive eviction notices so that developers could rehab buildings and rent them at a higher rate.  Entire apartment complexes with no place to go.  This is happening up and down the coast and it continues to happen. Warehouses where people were squatting now built, redeveloped, turned into fancy condos with shops.  Where do those folks go?  Those are the people you see sleeping on your street.  
• There's always been homelessness with us, we just have not been good about talking about it because we have not been able to see it.
• People have lived in poverty across the country and the reason the housing market is so critical to this discussion is that we know in other states people are still able to stay in their housing regardless of their life circumstances.  
• It's important to keep in mind that doesn't mean their housing is okay or acceptable, but that they aren't forced out into the streets so that a developer can make more money to allow someone with a lot of money to be able to purchase that home.
• As we see more people on the streets, we are driven to respond to them.  For some of us it is because it is hard to see people suffering, it is overwhelming because if you look at the faces of the people on the street and you ask any one of them what their story is, they might point to a whole list of things that have gone wrong.  And so we wonder if the problem is mental health, drug addiction, not being able to get a job - it's those things and many more. 
• But we know that fundamentally the way that we can help people is by providing them a stable place to live.  If you take what we often describe as the people who are the hardest to keep in housing, we know that housing programs demonstrates amazing success at keeping people in housing.  People are invited into a stable place to live and puts no restrictions and says this is your stable housing, you don't have to leave, to do what we say, you just have to be.  And by giving people that power, stabilizing them in that way they are able to do the things they need to do to stay in housing.  Maybe it's get a job, take their medication often, there is a whole list of things that people can do better because they have a stable place to sleep.
• The other thing that happens is that we miss the scale of the problem because we are so driven by the people we see on the street and the people that we see, the ones we tend to notice are the people who are are in the most serious trouble.
• In 2017 38,000 experienced homelessness in Oregon tristate area, 56,000 were unsheltered or they were living on the street, in cars, in warehouses.  
• You see a small portion of that population when you focus on the people who are on the streets, and let them drive conversations like whether there should be a camping ban or not.
• What we are really doing when we go into neighborhood association meetings and fight it out over what to do about people sleeping on our sidewalks is we are trying to answer the question what is our responsibility, or what should our response be to the very real situation that people are suffering and they are impacting the systems of our cities that are not able to deal with this problem.
• If you want to talk about solving homelessness, that is a tie to housing.  Many people bring up solutions that they think will work but are ultimately untenable. 
• The reason we don't want to solve the housing problem is because it requires us to look internally and understand that hundreds of years ago our country created an entire housing system predicated on the idea that only certain people deserved a home.
• When you think about the early days in the United States, we have this image of people being unified and raising roofs and putting hammers on the walls and it was fantastic, neighbors helped neighbors, but that's not what it was like.  From the start, white men only with wealth could access housing.
• The foundations of our country set into motion what we have today.  We structurally created homelessness for entire sets of people.  Enslaved African Americans lived in sheds and shacks and stables, white women could not earn a salary or own property, Native Americans were pushed off their lands and land titles stripped and marched across the country, many living in the PNW today who started off in completely different places, and the mentally ill, they were sent to the country side to live in sanitariums where they were often experimented on.
• We let people be homeless from the start of this country and so it affects us today and this means we have not accepted how we started and created an unequal foundation in this country for so many people.
• 40 percent of homeless people in this country is made up of African American people.  African Americans are only 13 percent of the nation's population.
• These people are most vulnerable to housing.
• So now we have to ask questions about why and what do we do next. 
• One of the hardest things to do is to understand that many of us grew up in a space where a single family home was the dream.  We believed home ownership was the pinnacle of success and if we all worked hard we could achieve that.  And most of us do work hard, the problem is that if you start off at a lower base or in poverty it is much harder to be able to get out of that.  
• It takes 20 years of everything going right to these days to be able to get out of poverty.  If you were living in poverty there is no way you can in fact afford a home in today's market.
• Housing is a universal right petition - what is that? -  in 1996 the UN created housing as a universal right for everyone.  You can look at social housing programs around the world with powerful examples of providing housing that does not tie housing to wealth.  Sign the petition.
• E-mail elected officials and tell them you want revenue to go to providing that housing.  Give more money or give up pet programs and put it on hold while we provide the housing.
• Then think about why do our ideas sound so impossible?  It sounded impossible at one point in time that women would have the right to vote or that African Americans or Mexican Americans could sit with white people, and we accomplished those things.
• We can question things, ask people with considerable wealth to pay more into our system to provide housing. 
• The housing market does not have to be based on wealth.

Burundi - Worlds poorest country

Notes:

• Burundi is the poorest country in the world, almost every year in the last 62 years.  The country has a population of 12.5 million and its people live in such great poverty that it is known as the unhappiest country in the world, and the annual income of the average working citizen is about 180 US dollars.
• The unemployment rate in unknown but it is thought to be one out of every three people is thought to be unemployed.
• People make about 15 dollars a month and still have to support large families.
• People are so poor that if an animal gets hit on the road, they consider eating it.
• The Republic of Burundi, the heart of Africa is located in the great Drift Valley where East Africa meets the African Great Lakes.
• The surface area of the country is 27,834 kilometers, although almost everyone is engaged in agriculture, for this reason this geography which has many mountainous areas is not enough to feed 12.5 million people. 
• The most populous city, Bujumbura has a population of 380,000 people.  The first striking detail is that there are children everywhere, the kids of the neighborhood are busy fishing.
• 65 percent of the population is under 25 and 45 percept is under the age of 15.  Only 3 percent are 65 years old or older.  They don't have many toys to play with.
• According to the United Nations data published ten years ago, the average life expectancy was about 49 years since only 7.6 percent of the population had access to electricity there are phone charging points in many neighborhoods.  Most people in this country do not use smart phones.  Even the informational footages on the airplanes use old technologies.  
• About 86 percent of the country consists of rural areas, almost 90 percent of the entire population's job is farming.
• There are homeless people who have no choice but to get wet when it rains.  They take advantage of the rains and will shower in the water.
• People live in small houses, 10 people in one room.  8 children, two parents.  They often take things like blankets from the garbage to sleep on.  Farmer John - 58 years old - makes 10 dollars a month.  The eldest son is 18 years old and goes to garbages to collect different things.  Their life is not sustainable, they can't find food to eat.  The wife collects garbage all day.  2 children were lost to starvation, one was nine and the other seven.  And yet John's situation is still better than most other people.
• It is possible to come across people everywhere in Burundi, which is the second most densely populated country in Africa.  There are 451 people per one square kilometer and more than 70 percent of these people live below the poverty line.  One out of every 20 people dies from malnutrition or starvation.
• One US dollar is equivalent to 2000 Burundi franks, however it is almost impossible to buy dollars at this price.
• As today's technology is lacking in Burundi, the jobs that exist in other countries don't exist here.
• A person who owns a bicycle is considered to have a profession in Burundi.  They carry products from farmers to the markets.  They are barefoot, torn clothes.  They earn about 90 cents a day.  They risk their lives by traveling sometimes 100 to 150 kilometers between cities for 10 to 12 hours every day.  Road accidents can happen along the way.  People hold into trucks uphill to save time/energy.  
• 12,000 kilometers of roads in Burundi but only 14 percent is asphalt.
• Some people dry their rain soaked clothes on transmission towers on the street because they don't have a home.
• Cyclists use 1000 BF for food and 1000 for rent/family.
• They usually consume potatoes and beans as they are sources of energy are limited.  Begging is common among people, job or not, people from an early age seek help as soon as they see a friend.  People are desperate for money.
• Those who do not own a bicycle carry the loads on their heads day and night to earn 50 cents a day, sometimes walking barefoot and transporting from the villages to cities kilometers away.  These lives who walk from city to another on foot exhaust their bodies and health on these roads.
• At the last stop, most products are sold directly from the farmer as there is not enough technology to process or package the products.  In this market, which is the largest shopping center in the country these is not much other than food.  This place is full of people.
• Gitega is the second largest city in Burundi and capitol with a population of 135,000.
• Political turbulence reins in every corner of the country. 
• The driver has a jacket and has a Bible on the front console of the car to skip the police check points.  Police checkpoints here start with this rope across, according to the guide, the people are from the youth branches of the leading party and they block the road to do identity checks.  The driver bribes the police.
• A man who sews the fields makes 15 a month and is given some money to help him and some food.  With the money he is able to buy supplies to continue his job.  Another man earns 10 dollars a month and carries people on a mototaxi.  
• A police officer earns around 14 dollars a month if they don't accept bribes.  If they are bribed, it is only enough to get some beer.  Most forget their families, stay in police booths, it is difficult to feed their them and they cannot send money to their families.  They work 24 hours a day.
• Out of respect it is not allowed to move a car if a convoy passes by.
• Imagine a list of needs for a family of 8 people will consume for a month but the head of the family earns only 50,000 franks per month.  One liter of milk is 5,500, one liter of sunflower oil is 9,000, shampoo is 8,000, one kilogram of sugar is 8,500, 1 half liter of water is 1,500.  Even this list which does not include vegetables or meat products is far above the purchasing power of a family.  One piece of chocolate is 2,500, one pack of biscuits is 2,000, one redbull is 6,500, hazelnut spread is 18,000, one liter of olive oil is 29,000. 
• They don't keep the meat in refrigerators here.
• An average Burundian has to work for approximately 230 years without spending any money to earn to full annual salary of an average US citizen. 
• Bricks used in the construction of a new house are made of a mud mixture without undergoing any firing process.
• A man faints due to starvation in the middle of the street.  An armless child carries his sibling.  He won't be able to get a job when he is 20 or 30.
• In schools most children will be employed instead of continuing their education, only 32 percent of students in the country complete their secondary education, less than 1 percent attend university.  The only university in the country is University of Burundi.  Student dreams believe they will become rich.  Doctor... artist, singer...
• Children return from school.  They walk for about an hour back and forth.  Some for two hours.  Those who do not have a bag carry their books tucked into their clothes.
• Flour makers make less than 10 dollars a month and work 12 hours a day.  They sleep where they work.
• A carpenter works 10 hours a day and earns 3 dollars a day.
• Stopping at a traffic jam and peddlers keep coming one after the other.
• Palm oil production - they throw the palm cores in the machine, separate the oil from the core, then they fill these pools with oil, cooked down to purify.  We see their uses as a food and also as material to make soaps.  
• Shop owners budgets are not high enough for professional advertising so they get help from local painters.  They use these to promote the brand instead of shop signs. 
• The most basic needs in the country are in the hands of monopolized companies.  They is one company sugar, coffee, cement. and these factories are surrounded by high walls.
• You can buy enough flour to feed 30 people for only 15 dollars.
• Saturdays are public cleaning days in the country with the encouragement of the government they sweep the streets and clean the city.
• With the striking details, class distinction continues even after life.  People will buy private space for themselves.  Middle class get crosses and the poor get rocks.  It is prohibited to film there.
• One week after being threatened by police to be put in jail, a fire broke out in the prison and 38 prisoners died in the fire. 
• Burundi is the third worst country in the world in fire related accidents.
• One woman's husband and three other children died and she remains with one boy.  She says they died mysteriously and she doesn't know why.  She begs for food and not money. 
• An elderly man sleeps and cooks in the same place.  His clothes are rags.  One pair of shoes.  His son brings food for cows that he carries on his head.
• The poorest of the poorest country in the world live in mud and stick huts that are meant for animals, but people accept shelters like this one.  They are defenseless when it rains.  There are holes in the wall.  Sacks and plastic bags to form a wall structure.  Many people lose their lives due to starvation, the ones who survive live like this in the villages.
• People usually have six children.
• Some just cultivate for eating.  Some people have stopped trying to make money.  The economic infrastructure is not functional enough, they do shopping by bartering things they grow instead of using money and don't even know of the year or have information about currency or have information on what is happening.
• Many things have been planted, villagers do not wait to the land to fallow and rest, instead they keep planting as they are very hungry.  This is the only way people can eat something.  Things grow two times slower than normal and this adds new issues to the problem of starvation.
• Samuel is 16 years old, has never been to school and is already looking after a family of three.  They don't have a toilet, they do it outside.  They have a small, dirty kitchen to cook.  Dirty water for dinner.  He has one outfit and one that he only wears while praying.  His religion is Christianity.  
• 20 percent of the female population is forced to get married before the age of 18.  They see children as a blessing have an average of 5.5 children per woman.  
• It is common for some men from the previous generation to have 25 or 30 children from more than one woman.
• Protein is not consumed in sufficient quantities is the third country in the world that consumes the least meat proportion to the population.  The second least meat eating country is India and the first Bangladesh.  Vegetarianism is common in these countries.  The average daily meat is only 14 grams and 2 percent of food consumption.  
• The lack of important nutritional source such as iron, vitamin A, zinc, iodine causes IQ loss and deficit of physical growth and development.  Anemia is common in this society.  One out of every five children loses their life before reaching the age of five due to these reasons.  
• In Burundi there is only one doctor for every 35,000 people.  2 million people have never been to a hospital in their life.
• Petrol costs 80 cent per liter.
• Church is one of the activities where the public socializes easily.  84 percent of the population is Christian.  2.5 is Muslim.  The rest believe in a goddess called Imanna, which is a part of their old religious beliefs, or do not believe in any religion.
• Traditional music involves dance.  The song in their language Kirundi was once used to summon the enemy to combat.
• The Kingdom of Burundi became part of German East Africa in 1890 and it was later transferred to Belgium after Germany's defeat in WW1.  The Belgian government which has made its presence felt in all areas had introduced ethnic discrimination starting from 1933 and artificially created different classes by distributing identity cards to the people according to the physical characteristics.  
• In terms of demographic structure, 85, 14 and 1 percent of the population consists of different lineages.
• The one who brought independence was killed by while he was in a meeting by Belgium. 
• They use the Belgian educational system.  They speak French.  They take them on as a tutor.
• The Belgian abuse lasted until July 1st 1962 ended and Burundi declared independence it is mandatory for the people to carry an identity card showing their tribal origin and this conflict continued until 2005 has ended the lives of 300,000 people.
• The Belgians brought Christianity.  They traded the Bible for the Land...
• In addition to children who have lost their parents, there are many children abandoned by their families due to economic instability.  The orphan population is 610,000.  That is five percent of the total population.  All these orphans are pushed to work.  Many are forced for prostitution.  Some are sold like slaves.  Some are brough to Uganda's poor regions and forced into agricultural labour and work.
• In 2020 the government reported that traffickers sold children at markets in the Eastern region for about 50,000 shillings, 15 dollars.
• A team of operatives rescued a woman and her three children from being sold.  The woman were freed from a mud house.  Their travel documents were confiscated.  
• Victims from Burundi, Kenya and Sudan get transferred to Uganda on route to other countries.  
• Burundi is the 4th country with the lowest internet access in the world, only 13 percent of the people can access the internet.
• Despite all the negatives, the motto of the country is; "Unity, Work and Development."  
• The red color on the flag red color on the flag represents the struggle for freedom, the green for hope for the future and white represents peace.  The three stars represent the communities living in the country.  
• Although recently banned not to trigger revolt, one of the publics activities is jogging, organized under permission.  
• The most popular sport is football.  The biggest dream of some young people is to be transferred to a football club abroad.  The list of those who went to Europe to compete on an athlete visa and did not return is quite long.  A similar incident occurred in 2011 when all the players of a Senegalese club did not take the field in Paris where they went for a game and scattered around France illegally. 
• They have the second biggest lake in the world and people come here for swimming.  There are crocodiles in the water and garbage.  
• The residents located near Lake Tanganyika are engaged in fishing.  The most popular beach in the country is the beach on this shore and a few decades ago.
• The use coffin-like boats.  These are called Bata and are very primitive.  Water leaks in them and they have patches.
• One guy catches around 30 fish.  He earns more than 100 a month.  People who fish they earn a lot of money.  
• There are crocodiles in the lake that sometimes eat people.  Sometimes they fall in the deep water and down.
• Experienced fisherman can determine a spot of danger with the help of bubbles that rise to the surface.  Crocodiles that know how humans taste hide in the water, they can sometimes target fishermen when they see the boat.
• They constantly have to drain the water out of the boats or they will sink.  This is a routine process and very hard.
• Children are used to this lifestyle and this is an ordinary day for them and this is how they survive, life is hard. 
• Although it is not well known, the lake has about 16 percent of the world's fresh water reserve.  It holds the title of the second deepest lake in the world.  Now that a drinking water shortage is at the doorstep of mankind and it has 16 percent of the water value, it can be widely exploited in the next few decades.  
• Burundi's main exports are coffee, tea, caron, potatoes, beans, flour and bananas.  The countries that buy these products are Belgium, China, Uganda, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and India.  
• Although Burundi is located close to the equator, it has a slightly humid climate due to the high altitude and the temperature does not change much and it is around 24 degrees Celsius.
• The country experiences the rainy season twice a year between September to November and February to May.
• While the mountainous terrain and increasing number of trees cut down has made the country vulnerable to flood disasters, many homes have been destroyed due to the increasing number of floods in recent years.  And their farms which are their source of income have been ruined.  In the city of Gatumba the people have lost 90 percent of their belongings due to the flood in April 2020.
• The country is like a tree that loses its leaves month after month.  
• People are hoping that spring will come, but at the Heart of Africa, humanity hasn't come out of problems yet.  The world's poorest country and it's people are desperate, accustomed to hunger.

The history of slavery in America

Notes:

• Slavery is a system of forced labor that has existed throughout the world for thousands of years.
• In America, slavery began in the 17th century when people in Africa were overpowered and forced to leave their native land, their culture and their families behind.
• Europeans and others did not simply march into Africa and just take people.  There were battles and wars that were lost by the British, French and Portuguese as well as those were won.  
• Males and females lead forces against the enslavers.
• Europeans responded by coercing one tribe to enslave another, threatening to arm their enemies with terrifying new weapons if they did not cooperate.
• These tribal slave traders selected strong healthy males and females between the ages of 18 and 35, although children were often captured as well.
• The African captives were chained together at the ankle or wrist, or linked at the neck by a wooden yoke.  Once bound, the captives embarked on a grueling march, sometimes as long as 600 miles to the coast where European ships awaited them.  Many perished from the rigors of the trip, others resisted and were killed.
• The Atlantic crossing took for four to eight weeks, men, women and children were crowded into tightly packed quarters.  
• The ordeal was so demoralizing that the Africans often sank into a deep depression.  Some chose death rather than to endure the degradation.
• They attempted to escape on ships by leaping off and drowning.
• The first slaves in the American colonies, a cargo of about 20 Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619.  The number of enslaved Africans increased steadily each year.  By 1763, the colonial population included an estimated 230,000 Africans, most of them slaves in the South.
• A slave was someone who could be forced to work from the age of 8, 6, 4 even.  Long hours at tasks that someone else decided.  A slave was a person who had no right to a vacation.  A slave was a person who had no rights to wages.  A slave could have no property.  A slave could not marry.
• By the late 18th century the textile industry had ended a period of rapid development in both England and the northern United States.  This growth created a tremendous demand for Southern cotton.
• In 1793 Eli Whitney developed the cotton gin, a machine that cleaned cotton five times faster than manual methods and as a result more slaves were needed to pick and haul the cotton.
• By 1860 there would be 4 million African slaves in the United States and this enormous population of slaves was owned by a small group of the wealthiest and most powerful whites in American society.
• As they toiled in the fields, laws were created to enforce their low status.  They were prohibited from participating in lawsuits, owning property or firearms and from possessing alcohol.
• Most states did not recognize slave marriages and often prohibited slaves from learning to read and write.
• The treatment slaves received from their masters varied tremendously.  Some owners were brutal sadists who worked their slaves mercilessly and threatened them with violence so painful that it amounted to torture.
• If you were ordered to do a task that you knew would be dangerous to you, you had to do it.  It is tempting to put poverty and slavery together, they were very different and the difference is that in enslaved workers had no rights.
• A slave had no protection from mistreatment because the law considered a slave another man's property and not a human being.  When a slave suffered a whipping he could not fight back or take his master to court.
• Slaves developed and independent culture unknown to their masters.  They spun fantastic spoken narratives that passed from one generation to the next.  These folktales expressed the slaves aspirations for a better life.
• Many slaves found strength to endure oppression through their religion which blended Christianity with African beliefs.  
• Spirituality was a strong force in the life of the slave.  Slaves could turn to God with all of their problems.  Slaves could ask God to either relieve them of the burden of a brutal slave master or to free them from the day to day struggle in their lives.
• At the core of slave society was the family.  Slave families suffered when one member was sold to another plantation.  Owners usually kept women and children together, selling off the father and sons.  On the well established plantations, black families had a better chance of remaining intact.  Some enduring for three or four generations.
• Although religion, folk tales and family life softened the horrors of slavery, they did not lessen the humiliating aspects of servitude.  Slaves sought more direct means of resisting their bondage though violent rebellion, subtle and covert acts of resistance.  
• People who were enslaved that resisted by working very slowly, pretending that they didn't know how to do something, breaking equipment, slowing down the process, not happy go lucky going along, these were forms of resistance. 
• Wherever there were Africans in the Western hemisphere, there were slave revolts.  Haiti helped rid the island of European domination by organizing his people into a standing army of several thousand troops.
• The best known slave revolt in U.S. history occurred in 1831 in South Hampton Virginia.  It was lead by a plantation headman named Nat Turner, who rose up in revolt with other slaves and killed the plantation owner and his family.  The rampage was halted when local militia crushed the rebellion, capturing and executing Turner.
• Many men and women known as abolitionists worked unceasingly to end slavery.  They viewed slavery as immoral and unchristian, and could not comprehend how Americans steeped in the tenants of the Declaration of Independence could sanction the enslavement of human beings.
• Many former slaves like Sojourner Truth supported this movement.  She traveled widely speaking for both racial and gender causes.  She used her very strong religious beliefs felt a calling to travel the country delivering her message of upliftment for black people and did become in other progressive activities.
• The movement attracted members of both races including the journalist Willian Lloyd Garrison  who published The Liberator, the leading antislavery newspaper of the day.
• Frederick Douglas, another towering figure in the anti-slavery movement was born a Maryland slave in 1817.  Escaping to the North he became an agent of the Massachusetts antislavery society and an speaker for black freedom.  In 1847 he founded a newspaper, the Northstar.  He was politically active and involved in every aspect of life that he could in an attempt to improve the status of black Americans in the 19th century.
• There were men in the 20th century such as Martin Luther King who have had a similar impact.
• On plantations, slaves performed numerous jobs and were placed in hierarchical ranks.  Field slaves were usually divided into gangs of five to ten and supervised by a slave driver, often a slave himself. 
• Many slaves escaped to freedom along a series of trails known as the underground railroad.
• The underground railroad was a loose network of people willing to hide runaway slaves in their homes and conduct them to the next station or safehouse until they could reach the free North.
• The underground railroad was also aided by Northern abolitionist organizations such as The Philadelphia Vigilance Committee who gave supplies and helped conduct slaves to freedom.
• This was an important group engaged in aiding fugitive slaves.  It was a group that had operated from the late 1830's into the early 1840's and it was comprised of fugitives as well as freed blacks and white supporters.  It was a group that aided the underground railroad and their primary job was to aid fugitives with food, clothing, money and to direct them on to other places.
• Pursued by angry slave masters and bounty hunters, the route for escaped slaves was perilous and hard.  Many did not survive the hardship or were caught and returned to their masters.
• The most famous guide on the underground railroad was Harriet Tubman.  Having escaped from a Maryland plantation in 1849 she became familiar with the roads, hiding places and depots that were used to conduct runaways to freedom in the North.
• Harriet Tubman was a brave, courageous, wise and kind person.  Not only did she concern herself about her liberty, but she concerned herself with people of all races..  One reason why the underground railroad was so popular among people throughout the world is that people of all races, creeds and colors came together.
• Tubman's method relied on secrecy and surprise.  She would gather money and supplies in the North, then slip down to the Eastern shore through Delaware and through Maryland, arriving unannounced until the last moment.  She would make contact with the slaves who were ready to escape.
• She would simply appear on the Eastern shore and the word would be quickly spread to all of those who were determined that they would be free, where they should meet her at the appointed hour and those who chose freedom met her there and embarked with her on the trek to freedom.  After she learned from her first venture that she could not trust slaves to determine that they were going to drop out, she packed a revolver and for those who determined that they would turn around she told them go forward or die.
• To avoid suspicion, Tubman sang traditional slave spirituals to relay coded messages to slaves.  She stole away into the night and crept along the very slave quarters or cabins often times whispering or knocking on doors or singing, steal away to Jesus, I ain't got long to stay here, was a coded spiritual informing the slaves to steal away.
• Having gathered her flock she would travel at night and conduct them to Delaware Pennsylvania - she used only the most trusted contacts and safe houses along the route.  One such key station on the underground railroad was Johnson house in Germantown Pennsylvania.  Owned by Quakers, it was a safe haven for exhausted slaves.
• In 1850 the fugitive slave act intensified the risk for runaway slaves.  Any negro accused of being a runaway could be returned to slavery by the sworn statement of the slave's owner.  Northern states that had been safe became dangerous as runaway slaves were hunted for rewards.  To be safe, Tubman extended her underground railroad trail to Canada, a town near Niagara Falls.
• During her trips to the South, Tubman became known as the Moses of her people.  Referring to the Biblical Moses who delivered his people from Egyptian bondage.  She successful conducted over 600 slaves to freedom, included her own family.
• Freedom is a word that has tremendous resonance because slavery stands right behind it and we know so much about what slavery meant.  It was a terrible condition that no one wanted to embrace or to be part of, so freedom is glorious because it's the denial, the triumph over slavery.
• In 1857 the growing movement was set back when the United States supreme court handed down a decision in the case of Dred Scott vs Sandford.  He was a black slave who sued his owner on the grounds that he had legally become emancipated by traveling through the free soil state of Illinois.  The court ruled against him, declaring that as a black man he was not a citizen and thus had no right to bring a suit in a federal court.  The court ruled that a slave did not automatically gain his liberty by entering a free state.
• The legal system was available to African Americans to a certain extent, which means that they could pursue their grievances through the courts but it did not mean that the courts would be sympathetic to their interests or that fairness would be the issue.
• Two years after the Dred Scott case, an abolitionist named John Brown organized a plot to free Southern slaves through armed intervention.  In order to secure weaponry, he lead a raiding party.
• He contacted Tubman and Douglas and involved them in his plan to attack the slave owning South and to liberate the slaves.  Tubman was committed to join Brown, Douglas however studied the plan and decided it would fail and decided that he would not be a part.  Tubman would have been with John at Harper's Ferry had she not become ill at the time.
• Brown rested control of the armory, killed the town's mayor and seized several hostages before he was captured by federal authorities and hanged two months later.
• In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States.  He opposed the expansion of slavery and his victory through the South into revolt.  
• By March of 1861, seven states, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas had succeeded from the union to form a coalition they called the Confederate States of America.
• The Civil War began one month later when Confederate gunfire sounded over the federal stronghold of Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
• Lincoln responded by issuing a call for 75,000 volunteers to man the union army.
• Economic issues where of utmost importance in the causing of the war.  Slavery was the key issue, which caused the Civil War. 
• At the heart of the Civil War was the issue of whether or not the slave states were going to be able to maintain their status.
• The abolitionists presented the president with two demands.  The right of freed blacks to fight with the army and the emancipation of the slaves.  They were the men and women, black and white that wanted to end slavery.  Many of them were in the North and they fought for many years to change the system that the country had accepted.
• For women, speaking in public was tremendously courageous, it was a time in which women did not generally speak in public.
• Eventually Lincoln agreed to the demands.  Nearly 185,000 blacks fought valiantly during the Civil War and about 38,000 gave their lives to the Union's cause.
• In December 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, abolishing slavery.
• The wars end in April 1865 brought freedom to nearly 4 million slaves.  Freedmen as males and females were called celebrated on plantations.
• By word of mouth the Emancipation Proclamation spread like wildfire.  The ability of African Americans to transmit messages before the Civil war and during is legendary and this is an example of that ability to communicate.
• In December 1865 congress passed the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  Guaranteeing the hard won freedom of African slaves.  It stated:  Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States.
• Emancipation throughout the South was followed by a period of intense confusion in which blacks made the dramatic transition from slavery to citizenship.
• At first, a number of slaves decided to "walk about", to test freedom and see what it meant but they soon discovered that life meant more than just having simple freedom without economic support and so many were forced to go back to the old plantations and to contract with their owners for work.
• In 1867, congress, fed up with the pussyfooting of the president who was Andrew Johnson, a slaveholder from Tennessee and a man who had been Lincoln's vice president and who ascended to the office with the assassination of Lincoln, passed the first reconstruction act in March of that year, and that placed the ten of the eleven states of the Confederacy under military rule in five districts, and annulled the governments of those states.
• This reconstruction ushered in an era of reform, but did not alter the economic disparity between the former slaves and their masters.  The South complied with the reconstruction, only because the military now occupied their territory, enforcing the new laws.
• As part of this revolutionary pattern in the South, congress expended the right to vote to all free men, thus granting formerly unheard of power to the blacks.
• This new block of black voters, without a corresponding economic foundation only increased the ability of the Republican part to maintain temporary control of the re-United States.
• After the reconstruction, the government failed and the Northern soldiers were pulled out of the South and violence increased.  Groups like the KKK were attempting to take away the rights that had been gained by African Americans.
• Young people today should be aware of is the range of contributions that African Americans have made to American society over the years and that they have been able to make these contributions in the face of overwhelming odds.  They have fought for rights which had been denied them, at which we now have available to us and quite often and frequently we abuse, we don't take full advantage of.
• The Civil War destroyed the institution of slavery, but it did not end the racism of white Southerners who wanted their former slaves to retain their inferior status.  Discrimination against Americans of African decent would continue, like Tubman and Douglas before them, new leaders would be called forward by African Americans to guide their fight for freedom.

Why do we make war?

Notes:

• Are there any greater human anguishes than those caused by war?  For the sheer scope of grief and wasted human potential, we have a moral obligation to understand the ultimate reasons why we destroy one another.
• Fields such as economics, political science, religious studies have all tried to explain war, but still, how many of us have reflected on the cruelties of war or have lived them and simply shaken our heads in disbelief?
• Perhaps it is time for a new lens.  Evolutionary science is suggested - fields that explain the evolved purpose - the why of a particular behavior including warfare.
• At their core, those explanations are not about money, politics or religion, they are about us as creatures of biology, programmed by natural selection to compete for survival and reproduction. 
• To benefit from the wisdom of these sciences we must avoid the naturalistic fallacy.  The mistaken idea that just because we may have an instinct for something that instinct is moral, desirable or inevitable.
• Often our instincts are none of those things and in many cases we have the power to choose but much more so when we understand and when we take an unflinching look in the mirror at who we are.
• In our world the single biggest predictor of violence is a simple demographic and that demographic is men.  Now this doesn't mean that all men are violent, btu the vast majority of every conceivable violence from spousal abuse to gang fights to world wars is committed by men.
• It is true that men will go to war for honor.  For patriotism.  To protect their homelands or brothers in arms but there is another ancient and powerful reward for war that lingers, mostly subconsciously in the evolved minds of men and that is sex.
• To see how this can be, first some basic facts about our reproductive psychology.  A highly robust international finding is that men and women engage in different reproductive strategies.  Across every culture on earth men on average men tend to prefer more sexual partners as compared to women, women invest more in their offspring so they are far choosier.  
• This says nothing as to whether men or women should have these preferences or can want something different.  Or can want something different.  They can.  But just like other male animals, men's reproductive fitness is directly related to number of copulations.
• Theoretically a man can reproduce with every sexual encounter and this is not a biological reality for women. 
• There is a problem with all of this male demand.  Men produce sperm by the millions and well into old age.  By comparison, women's reproductive resources are scarce.  Limited to 500 total ova across the lifespan, to the period between adolescence and menopause.  By things like pregnancy and polygamy, where powerful men hoard women, creating shortages in the mating pool.
• In the natural world where demand is high and supply is low we have instinctual competition and often that competition is violent.
• It's often hard to see our instincts because typically the older the instinct the more hidden it is from our everyday conscious awareness.  One way to overcome this instinct blindness is to first observe the instinct expressed in another animal.
• Most male mammals, countless monkey species and all the great apes engage in violent competition over females.  Male baboons attack each other with dagger like canines to win groups of females.  Male gorillas also square off to fight for sexual supremacy.  But for a look at male mate competition occurring at the group level we turn to our closest relatives.  Robust chimpanzees will form all male war parties, silently patrol the edges of their territory.  If they encounter a smaller party from the rival troop they tear them to pieces.  Enough successful patrols and all males from the rival group are killed.  It's territory, food and most critically, it's females are absorbed, increasing male reproductive opportunity.  Male chimpanzees have a reproductive incentive for making war.
• But do men have a reproductive incentive for war?  Could it really be about sex?  Or did this nearly universal male behaviour somehow bypass men?
• To begin, the world record holder for most offspring goes to a Moroccan sultan who was nicknamed the Bloodthirsty.  In the 1700's he sired 888 children.  And kept more than 500 concubines.  How did he achieve this record?  By raiding his neighbors, killing thousands of men and capturing their women.
• Archeological evidence suggests this behaviour is ancient.  Prehistoric massacre sites have been found where among all the bashed up skulls and bones there was a noted absence of reproductive aged females, suggesting these women were not killed but taken captive.  
• We see this impulse arising unconsciously in the modern day, in societies where polygamy is allowed, where again the percentage of females in constrained, we see more revolutions.
• When there are women shortages, young men instinctively start making war against the male dominance hierarchy, even more directly in hunter/gather societies, tribesman will raid their neighbors, skewer all the men with arrows and take the women as their wives.
• On a much broader scale, that terrible practice of wartime rape is staggeringly common.  For example, during the Bosnian genocide, there were an estimated 50,000 rapes.  The Rwandan genocide, 250,000 rapes.  In WW11 when the Red Army invaded Berlin, they raped 2 million German women.
• This doesn't mean all men join the military with intent to rape, pillage, plunder - but the ease with which many men will rape in wartime is telling as are the harsh punishments that militaries employ to prevent it.
• In wartime, we have male primates killing their rivals and reaping the sexual rewards.  A chilling pattern that we know from our closest primate relatives.  This isn't always conscious.  Sometimes it is.
• ISIS and Boko Haram are two current day examples of men going to war with the intention of killing their rivals and taking the women as the spoils of war and are an example of male mate competition driving so called holy wars.
• Consider that every one of the 9/11 hijackers believed that by killing himself in jihad that his God would grant him 72 virgins in the afterlife.  This impulse is old.  And it's not restricted to any religion.  
• In The Bible, in battle God commands Moses to order his men to go to the rival tribe, kill all the men, the boys, all the women who have slept with the man and save for yourself every girl who has never slept with a man.
• So what do we do with all this knowledge?  How do we manage the most basic and primal reproductive impulsive driving men to kill?  For all that they have to tell us about why we do what we do, we have to ensure that the evolutionary sciences have a protected voice at the policy table.
• Throughout our history, men have dominated positions of political power, it should come as no surprise that men's reproductive imperatives get expressed in the political realm, in the ways that we handle conflicts with other nations. 
• There is no question at all that militaries provide something invaluable.  Protection.  But there is another ancient and powerful reward for war that lingers subconsciously in the minds of men.  
• When women express their reproductive imperatives in the political realm, they get expressed differently than men.  Evolutionarily, women would hardly have benefited from tearing into the rival village, killing all the woman and having sex with as many men as possible.
• Accordingly, when the ratio of women and government increases, nations are less likely to use military force to solve conflicts with other nations.
• Military spending goes down and we see greater political stability.
• Across our species history, women's biggest evolutionary challenge has been rearing vulnerable human offspring. 
• Accordingly when more women govern we see greater access to things like health care and education, which benefits not only children, but everybody.
• If stability is the goal, then all of this makes a strong case for carefully considering how our reproductive psychology gets expressed unconsciously in the political realm but also for clearing the way for more women into positions of governance for the survival instincts that they bring.
• Before we can begin, we must be truthful about what we are.  We are organic beings.  With finite lifespans and instincts that we inherited from our primate ancestors.  
• To many these facts can be unsettling, even if the United States, still today, the very topic of evolution by natural selection is controversial.  Greatly for what it may say about us as mortal beings not above, but related to all other life on this Earth.  And consigned to the same fates.
• But as history shows us over and over again, the consequences of not understanding are far worse than the discomfort of knowing.
• We must also see that while we are sometimes prone to do terrible things to one another, we are also capable of great compassion and great unity unlike any other species.  Natural selection provides us with these capabilities as well.
• If there's anything that we can say about us humans is that our greatest adaptation is in fact transcending our biology.  Every piece of technology that you can imagine are all evidence of this.  Transcending our impulses for war is also within our reach.  But for this, we must bring our instincts into the light of scrutiny.  With great courage and great honesty, only then will we be able to decide which of them continues to serve us and which of them should be left behind.

I was sex trafficked for years - brothels hidden in plain sight

Notes:

• Cue cards help the speaker focus and shield from painful memories and intrusive thoughts because her story is not an easy one to tell, in fact every time she tells her story she is retraumatized, but if sharing means that one more girl has a chance at freedom then it is worth it.
• Growing up in her family was not easy, mental health problems and abuse can destabilize a family, but abuse doesn't just exist in a vacuum, it doesn't just start or stop in one individual's life.  It permeates every action, and activity of their being.
• Mental health problems and abuse lead to neglect and neglect left her on the streets as a very young girl.
• She recalls going back to school, each year the teacher would ask her to write down what she did that summer.  She was so ashamed, paralyzed - she did not go to summer camp, to the cottage, she was the kid that played outside all day long.
• There was no regular structure, routine for most anything.
• One summer she was raped by a stranger, another, abused and degraded by the neighborhood boys. 
• She was always in fight or flight mode.  She felt danger everywhere.
• What she learned that summer was how to remain hypervigilant, how to avoid attack, something that no young girl should ever have to learn.
• It did not stop with the boys, she would later be abused at the hands of a multi-generational pedophile.  And it was his words that kept her trapped.  When he told her that her parents would not love her if she told on him, in her environment, she believed him and he behaviours started to reflect the environment that she lived in.
• She doesn't remember a time back that when her body ever felt like her own.
• At 17 she started going from club to club, she first started stripping, then later she worked for a smut magazine where she would meet some of the most dangerous people she has ever encountered.
• Still she was on this never ending quest to have some form of agency over her own body.  A source of power she had never had before.
• One day her phone rang, she was looking at her gas gauge sitting on empty.  An old co-worker from the magazine company.  He said he was running a massage parlor and he wanted her to come and join his "stable".
• On the outside it looked like a normal business but it wasn't.  It had ten rooms and were always busy.  There were between 40 to 60 women and girls on rotation in this spa.  A massage was between 40 and 50 dollars.  They would get a 10 dollar commission if she did not have a fine and she could have a fine for just about anything, being late, talking back, or not having a perfectly primped body.
• It was expected that the girls could earn more money by doing extras and by doing extras, she is talking about some of the most unimaginable and degrading acts.
• Police raids occurred but no one ever offered her help.  No one ever said if there was somewhere else she would rather be or someone she could call to connect to.  And this would be her life for the next nearly nine years.
• You might be thinking she is foolish, but she wasn't foolish.  She was vulnerable, naïve and a perfect target.  She didn't have a sense of belonging, didn't feel wanted or valued for anything other than her body. 
• She deceived herself that it was her choice to make this money, but in hindsight, there wasn't much choice involved at all.  This wasn't work, it was trafficking.  She was told how to dress, who to have sex with, where to live, everything.
• She felt scared.  Almost all the time.  The man who recruited her manipulated her into thinking and believing that he was a protector.  Boyfriend.  But he wasn't.  He was her trafficker and she was little more than his property.
• Over time, he made her a manager.  This was not an act of saving her, a promotion.  This was him trying to build his status and grow his power.  On paper, he ran a licenced body rub parlor, this allowed him to look like a legitimate businessman.  This license allows you to rub, knead or stimulate any muscle in the human body.  
• Officially, these words don't mean that sex is on the menu.  But in her experience and that of thousands of others suggest differently.  
• Somewhere between the letter of the law, the predatory practices of massage parlor owners and operators, police looking the other way, the city created licenced brothel systems.
• A massage parlor keeps a schedule, manages all of the advertising and fields all of the calls, freeing up a trafficker to look for another victim.
• Buyers, they don't have to go to a seedy motel.  Massage parlors and holistic centers, the ones on the way to and from your home and work.  They provide a façade of acceptability, safety and option on a woman's part.  But even worse, the fact that all of this happens inside of a licenced system means that we are enshrining a man's right to buy a living breathing human being, that's what we are talking about.
• This is what sex trafficking looks like in Canada.  It is the brothel hidden in plain sight where women are trapped and many enslaved.  And here all of us are deceived into believing that what's happening is a woman's choice.  
• Cities license these places and in their point of view they are not officially granting a license for a brothel but they are well aware of what's happening behind closed doors. 
• Not all massage centers are like this, legitimate owners, they are not open until 4 am, they don't advertise their staff in scantily clad clothing on escort websites.
• How are these parlors able to thrive?  Here in Canada, each municipality has the power and control to grant the licenses for their area.  The higher levels of government, they know that these problems exist yet they take no responsibility, by saying that they don't make the decisions, the municipalities do.
• Even one of a more celebrated and successful politicians was found inside one of these places with no pushback.  It is as if we are saying we are okay with this.
• She was in a meeting with the most high senior officials from licensing and she asked is they knew, and they responded with the fact that they know that they are brothels.  Everyone knows about this problem, yet no one is taking the lead to solve it.
• She escaped her circumstances.  She slept for three days straight.  It was her soul that hurt, for where there was no hospital.  Discovering her faith in a supportive community guided her to seek counseling where her journey to recovery began.  Getting out is one thing, but staying out is just as hard.
• With this understanding, she started Bridge North.  She wants to be a part of the solution, to help end sex trafficking.  She offers services to women, they will contact for mentorship, support, medical care, food assistance, many other services as well.  She also provides public education and advocate to change the laws because this problem is still so hidden in plain sight.
• There are more victims out there than you would think, some enter this dangerous world like she had, others, children and youth, they are lured out of foster care, group homes, shelters or from their own families.
• The common thread is that traffickers look to exploit the vulnerabilities of their victim.
• Where she was trafficked there were up to 60 women working.  The massage parlor made under just 2 million a year.  That doesn't include any of the money made in the rooms by the girls.  It doesn't include money made by going to after hours parties or other things like selling drugs or weapons.  There are thousands of these places across Canada.
• As a survivor, she believes we have to tackle the systemic problems that foster trafficking in the first place.  That's why in 2014 she spoke out against sexual exploitation before the justice and human right committee.  She helped to lobby and pass a bill called Protection of Communities and Exploited Person Act.
• She advocated for Canada to adopt the leading practices from Sweden.  This Nordic model penalizes the buyers while helping women to exit.
• This bill was passed and is now law yet still we are not seeing very much action at all.  We are not seeing arrests of buyers, or seeing adequate funding for services that women need to heal and recover.
• We have this legal framework, but don't have it in use.  From Canada, who is normally such a leader on so many fronts.  A country that is known for it's women empowerment and gender equality and yet still we need action to match the intention.
• Where do we start?  First, we need to abolish sex trafficking.  It's harms are inherent and simply cannot be licenced or legislated in a better way.  Second, women trapped should be given support to help them exit.  These women, they need to be safe from the repercussions of these men.  And finally, we need more support from the public.
• She has spoken to numerous officials and they all say the same thing.  "I can only address what my constituents bring to my attention."  Write them.  Call them.  Tell them that women being exploited and trafficked inside of massage parlors is not acceptable.  It takes just one person.
• She shares her story because she is free and does not take it for granted and that everyone deserves the same right and shares her story because she is hopeful.  She has seen, witnessed the strength inside of the women, these women are future leaders, entrepreneurs, moms.  Game changers.  All they need is a chance.  It took one person, her name was Kathy.  Her husband Jim, they each extended a hand of love to her, they both had shown her again what humanity was all about.  They assisted to bring back her self worth and that is something that you can do for someone else, too.

Water Crisis:  A global problem that's getting worse

Notes:

• Earth, the only planet in our solar system covered in water.  Water was born 4.5 billion years ago, among the cloud of gas and dust that collapsed to form our solar system.
• Icy particles collided and stuck together creating pebble and boulders and eventually planets the size of Earth.  
• Volcanic eruptions released this water into the air and with help from icy comets and asteroids created a fresh water ocean that turned the planet blue.
• Falling rain washed salt into the ocean leaving fresh water mostly trapped in ice caps and glaciers and as those glaciers receded humans flooded into river valleys, built civilizations near water and began to change it on a global scale.
• We have polluted it with toxins from industry and run off from agriculture.  We've taken more than our fair share by draining aquafers and entire seas.
• We have disrupted the rains by dumping CO2 into the atmosphere.  We can only live a few days without water and only by changing our relationship to it can we hope to avoid the coming crisis.
• From an indigenous perspective, water is understood as being a living force and is being equated to life itself.  So water isn't thought about as separate from people, it's more understood to be who we are and in relationship to us.
• Canada's original inhabitants managed the land and their knowledge can help reform a system that treats water like just another commodity.
• Everyone has an intimate relationship with water, everyone still needs water every day in some form to live.
• All civilizations have needed access to clean water to survive and we have always built our civilizations near water and spent hundreds of years building systems to deliver water over hundreds of miles.
• For billions of years, water has been the lifeblood of the planet as it flowed from the oceans, to the air, and then down to Earth.  But in the geological blink of an eye humans are irreversibly disrupting this natural cycle.  One impact is causing the most obvious damage.
• Climate change exacerbates everything that is happening in relation to water.  We can see this playing out in the United States, you have one part of the country having major wildfires and they would like to have water, meanwhile opposite end of the country is dealing with major floods, hurricanes.  Some places have way too much water and other places need the water aren't getting it.
• This increasing imbalance is being felt around the world.  In the last four decades, drought has devastated more people worldwide than any other natural disaster.
• Somalia is used to frequent droughts, but not ones that last as long as this one - it's been going on since 2015.  The previous drought was not as big of a deal, one farmer says, but they call this one the Elder Giant because it hit most of the country.  Over ten years of nearly continuous drought has killed much of the livestock, and driven nearly 50 percent of the country to the brink of famine.  People travel on roads for miles, leaving some of the herds that could not go on, 
• Climate change is also melting ice caps and glaciers which is reducing the worlds supply of fresh water.  Melting snow and glaciers from the Andes and Himalayas provide water for drinking and agriculture, to 1/5 of humanity and in North America the receding snow pack in the Eastern Sierras is affecting tens of millions of Californians.
• NASA estimates that seven areas across the globe are losing nearly 300 billion tons of ice every year.
• Dwindling access to water is triggering migrations in many countries.  When people don't have access to water, people will have to move.  Climate change refugees are going to become the norm.
• In Central American's golden triangle, crop yields are dropping.  Farmers are dealing with droughts every year.  People are leaving the area because they can't grow anything.  
• While it is easy to blame climate change for the global water crisis, there's a far more powerful force at work.  Farming uses 70 percent of all available fresh water on the planet and it's a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, second only to energy production.
• Industrial agriculture sucks up huge amounts of water in places like Colorado.  It drains rivers and streams to irrigate corn, to feed cattle in massive feed lots.  The water use is astounding.  
• It takes 25 hundred gallons of water to produce one bushes of corn and each head of cattle eats 50 bushels of corn over its lifetime.  That adds up to 125,000 gallons of water for every animal.  And because these farms get water for free, the cost to the planet for cheap meat is disappearing ground water.
• This has far reaching impacts on farmers and our entire food system.  California's San Joaquin Valley is one of the more fertile places on the planet and it, too is running out of water. 
• Farmers are being forced to dig deeper and deeper in order to dig deeper and deeper in order to find less and less ground water.
• 50 percent of fruits, nuts, vegetables in the U.S. come from California. 
• For years farmers didn't use their wells at all, the ground water, they always had surface water to farm with.  Now that they are in a drought they are relying on ground water to irrigate.
• The last five years they have been pumping a lot of ground water to keep the ranch going and eventually they will run out.  Employees - some third generation - counting on the farmers to stay solvent.
• Disappearing groundwater isn't just a problem in the United States.  This NASA satellite map shows how bad things have gotten.  The red shows the places where groundwater is being depleted.  
• As early as 2025, experts say that half the world's population will be living in places where there isn't enough water and it is estimated by 2040 most of the world won't have enough water to keep up with demand all year long.
• When wells run dry, existing tensions flare up...
• In Basra Iraq, sever water shortages sparked anti-government protests.
• The danger posed by our looming water crisis is listed by the world economic forum as among the top ten global risks to humanity, just below weapons of mass destruction, but above natural disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. 
• The main cause of water shortage isn't just climate change, it is rooted in our relationship to water.
• When water becomes a resource and then it has to be managed as a natural resource so then laws are created, authority is given, jurisdiction is given to what can happen to water and who can have access to it.
• It could be allocated to forestry operations, to agriculture.  People will compete because it creates a capitalist competition scenario.  Who wins or loses has direct consequences not just for people, but for ecosystems.
• When the state of Georgia allows the city of Atlanta and south Georgia farmers to pull hundreds of millions of water  from the Chattahoochee river, in the middle of a drought, it actually affects the oysters in Florida.  Sea urchins are getting in the oyster bars.  Fresh water pushes predators away and right now the salinity has changed things drastically.  Less fresh water means more predators and that means fewer oysters to be harvested because of decisions being made in another state.
• So many species are disappearing, and we need them for ecosystem health and you need to have ecosystem health in order for people to be healthy.
• Even though we wouldn't survive more than a few days without water it wasn't until 2010 that the UN passed a resolution recognizing that access to it is a human right.  And when they do have access to it, poor water quality means that access can be deadly.
• Nearly 3.5 million people, mostly children die every year from water born disease.  2 billion people don't have access to clean and safe water.
• In India, the Ganges river is sacred to the nations one billion Hindu, but it's also one of the world's most polluted waterways.  The Ganges is the main source of water for more than 500 million people, but it's contaminated with viruses and bacteria that cause life threatening diseases like cholera, typhoid and viral diarrhea.  Today it is more polluted than it was 30 years ago.  1.6 billion gallons of raw sewage and industrial waste pour into the Ganges every day.
• There are no water treatment processing centers or infrastructure for this country because of the inefficiency of the government.
• You could be living beside a river, you can't drink the water there and that is because of contamination of it through industrial development.  It is a burden placed on the people downstream who have to live with the contaminated water.
• In the city of Kanpur for example, hundreds of tanneries release toxic chemicals and heavy metals into the water.  Those who contribute least to the pollution suffer the most.
• Water's responsibility as an entity, or having agency is to support life and we interfere with that by polluting, damming, stopping it from flowing and doing what it should be doing.  We don't have the right to do that, it is an injustice.  
• Industrial contamination releasing chemicals into fresh water has had devastating impacts on the natural world because of the impact on aquatic life.  These impacts on plants and animals trickle down and affect humans as well, sometimes for generations.  Some heavy metals can stay in the sediment of rivers and lakes for hundreds of years.
• Lake Onondaga in Northern New York State was once called the most polluted lake in America. Decades of industrial lake turned the lake into a toxic waste site.  Even though the pollution stopped decades ago, children and women of childbearing age can't eat the fish in the lake because of high levels of mercury.  The company that is responsible for dealing with the pollution says the lake has been cleaned up, but the Onondaga nation, the traditional stewards of the lake do not agree.
• Honeywell, which bought out one of the original polluters and taxpayers have spent around a billion dollars to clean up the bottom of the lake and the company is still restoring other sites around the shore, but native peoples say that they have not disclosed everything and have a propaganda issue that is is clean.  There are still toxins in the water.  The next generation might not see a clean lake.
• The legacy of industrial contamination damages fish from the great lakes.  The relationship with water is being disrupted through contamination.  
• The issue is the system that lead to the contamination.  The multi-national corporations that trample over and harm the environment.  Whatever gets in the way of their profits.  People don't think when they dump into these waters like this.
• When no one takes responsibility for the health of the planet's water it is easy to pollute, but trying to own it can be just as disastrous.  
• Water is thought of as being a commodity, something to be bought and sold.  Water can also be property.  You have unequal access and as a result people suffer, so having access to fresh water is really important to live.
• In Flint, Michigan the government treated water like just another cost to be cut.  It switched the city supply to the Flint river, but failed to prevent lead from leaching into the water.  People and children were getting sick, rashes from the water.  They new for a long time people were being poisoned but they didn't care.  Lead is toxic in even the smallest amounts and can cause brain damage and death in children, and parents here worry about their kid's future.  People are showing water from their tap and it is clearly contaminated, dirty water.
• At the core of the global water crisis is how we manage and allocate water.  Experts say that if our depletion, pollution and misuse of fresh water continues unchecked, it could affect not only our entire food system but push ecosystems and societies to a point of no return.
• Experts say one solution to the looming water crisis is a shift in how we choose to see and value water.  Not as a resource or commodity but as a life sustaining force essential for human and planetary health and an entity in it's own right.
• Water is part of four elements that make up the planet.  Water is always in relation to these other elements.  That is one of the primary things people can learn from indigenous peoples is that you need to have a relationship with the natural world.
• When you are outside or near water in the presence of water, it conveys a sense of respect.  Awe.  Despite everything water still flows and does what it is supposed to do.  It is an awesome power.  In this new era, humans are responsible for the greatest impacts on the planet's water, but we still have the power to change the course we are on.
• People are the ones who have the power, will and intelligence to mess up, we can be so beautiful and innovative, but we can also be so destructive.  We have been destructive collectively.  Some more so than others.  We have to use our will, intelligence and power to solve this huge thing that we have created.

Tuleloits (AKA The Invocation of Fire), "is a sacred song in ancient Estonian witchcraft, sung to bring about anything the practitioner wishes, to worship or to thank deities and nature" and the song is supposed to ask "the fire spirits to harness their power of warming one's soul and cleansing outdated energies."

Little spark, little spark
Rise from the ashes, the right one
Little spark, little spark
Rise from the ashes, the right one

Grow with my power
Open with my heart
Grow with my power
Open with my heart

Lift higher
Shine further
Lift higher
Shine further

Burst to the edge of the sky
Radiate to the edge of the world
Burst to the edge of the sky
Radiate to the edge of the world

Destroy my pain bodies
Light up my shadows
Destroy my pain bodies
Light up my shadows

Dry these little eyes
Burn these thoughts of worry
Dry these little eyes
Burn these thoughts of worry

Cleanse what has been
Release what is yet to come
Cleanse what has been
Release what is yet to come

Make me new
And give me your force
Make me new
And give me your force

Blazing light into the darkness
Gold shine into the blackness
Blazing light into the darkness
Gold shine into the blackness

Light into very mind
Warmth into every soul
Light into very mind
Warmth into every soul

And so mote it be

Quote

Experiencing the True Face of Humanity

Notes:

• The light in the eyes of others, they guide you on your way.
• To explore the face of the other, and by this we do not mean literal faces, but rather to articulate what is known as the gestalt of a person.  Or gelaat in Dutch.  It's essentially the true appearance of other human beings, it is that which lets us empathize with them and recognize them as autonomous individuals with their own thoughts, emotions and inner richness.
• It's not just seeing you in front of me, it's... I see into you.  I see you...
• It might feel like a cliché to point this out because we are all obviously aware that other people exist and have their own identities and interiorities which are just as complex as ours and yet even though we are aware of that conceptually, sometimes it can still be strangely overwhelming on a more experiential level for we do not just rationally acknowledge the existence of others, we feel it.  It has psychological as well as physical implications for us leading into what is pretty much a fundamental question: "What is humanity and what does it really mean for us?"
• This is also a fundamental aspect of cinema because regardless of what kind of story a movie has to tell, most of them start with us buying into the realness of the characters. 
• Subtle performances, in the smaller moments that really convince us that we are watching not just an actor putting on a great performance but a real human being. 
• This can be achieved in countless different ways, from meticulously rehearsed moments to more spontaneous, perhaps even incidental ones.
• One aspect they often seem to share is the presence of a conflict between body and mind - between involuntary physical driving forces such as fear, stress, excitement, and by the conscious mind that tries to suppress them.  Little moments like these are revealing, because they make it seem so obvious that behind the façade of the literal face, the superficial expression or emotion being communicated, there is so much more going on.  A deeper interiority that we can intuitively sense and which signifies the humanity concerned.
• The obvious reason for why we want characters in movies to feel real is because we want to experience real human beings, they make us feel less alone, they ensure us that whatever we are going through is experienced by others as well.
• It makes us more open to connect with them, to share with them and to find support in that effort. 
• Experiencing the face of the other has deeper implications.  It wasn't just a comforting experience to ease our existential dread.  It was also a moral imperative.  
• The best way to explain this ethical responsibility in the humanity of others is by looking at the inverse, at what really happens when we intentionally or accidentally cause harm to another human being.  And that what this really reveals about us and the nature of humanity.
• Even when working through a higher purpose you are not exempt from the moral laws of common people.
• Humanity and the moral responsibility it invokes is not just a construct of the mind, but a palpable force that affects every fiber of our being.
• People deal with remorse and guilt haunting not just their minds but really inhabiting their body.  What people have in common is not just that they harmed another human being but that despite their best efforts to escape from, rationalize or suppress any feelings of guilt, there is something inside them that physically speaking won't let them.
• We generally see our conscience as a psychological trait, something that we construct mentally, like our voice or reason but for moral issues.  But what these cases of guilt demonstrate is there is an undeniable physiological aspect to it as well.
• It is well known that psychological issues can manifest themselves physically in our body, but there could be more to it than that.  There is a theological aspect to this.  In the face of the other, we also see the face of God or at least a reflection of the divine, which in turn would also explain why hurting someone becomes a cardinal sin.  It is not just a crime against humanity, it is a crime against God.
• But even from a more evolutionary perspective, where in consciousness is not spiritually separated from the rest of our body but rather a function of it, it is interesting to examine what this guilt really tells us, because if our mental states and therefore our conscience are more directly intertwined with our physiological constitution, with our natural instincts and behaviours, one could argue that our conscience is not just a result of nurture, but also in part at least of our nature - meaning that we do not just experience guilt as the result of deliberate reasoning, but also as an intuitive reflex.  
• What the experience of guilt could imply is that we are biologically incentivized to not hurt each other.
• We all want to help one another, human beings are like that, we want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery.
• Regardless of whether the moral imperative seen in the other stems from divine cultivation or evolutionary programming, it is undeniably true that the humanity of others and specifically the recognition and experiencing of the humanity of others plays a vital role in the way we interact with each other.
• We see this most clearly in the inverse, when we cause harm to each other, because even if guilt incentivizes us to not hurt each other, if history has proven us anything it is unfortunately that we have found ways to circumvent it and inflict harm in spite of what our conscience would normally dictate.
• Time and time again our most cruel selves come out not when violence is rationalized or guilt is reasoned away, but when the face of the other is denied.  Atrocities begin by dehumanizing victims, but breaking down the barrier that would prevent us to inflict that kind of harm.  
• If we would truly experience a human being in their fullness, if we'd feel their emotions, their history, imperfections, aspirations, inner depths and complexities as strongly as we feel our own.  If we stood in front of the true face of another, then murder would not be possible without destroying ourselves, too.
• The tension between the face of the other and a responsibility it invokes also matters in the more day to day interactions, in the little prejudices, the small grievances and all the other minor forms of interference that cloud our perception and diminish the humanity of others in subtle ways.
• We don't always see humans, we see bus drivers, bankers, waiters, customers, we see ideas of people, we see stereotypes and categories, religion, race, sexual orientation, politics.  The severity of which tends to increase the further they are removed from our own identity.  
• We dehumanize others in these quiet little ways every day, but we can dehumanize ourselves, too, for as we get lost in distractions, lose sight of the full humanity of others, we can lose sight of our own, too.  We deny what's really inside us to conform with ideas of who we think we should be and become the very categories that we use to shrink down others.
• But just as we experience guilt when we harm others, for this too, our body reacts by slowly disconnecting us from the outside.  Even though we might still exist in the same world physically, touching things doesn't feel the same, colours don't seem as bright, music feels distant.  The sensation is experienced as numbness.  Our body is essentially screaming at us, imploring us to get back in touch.
• Every day you wake up and there will be less of you.  You live your life for them and they don't even see you.  You don't even see yourself.
• This is no easy task.  A genuine existential crisis is not something to make light of.
• Part of the issue of this everyday dehumanization is that we almost automatically tend to put ourselves at the center of the universe, not just a pragmatic consequence of literally experiencing the world from an individualistic perspective.  But also as the result of philosophic traditions which have always assumed that reality is to be understood from the perspective of the self, or more simply put, from the inside out. 
• Other people are transformed into objects to be known or to be encapsulated within our own extended sense of self.  In a relationship people can't seem to help themselves from trying to make their partners more like themselves. 
• The issue is that other people come to be understood predominantly in their relation to us, rather than as beings that we truly experience and appreciate in their own right.
• This brings us back to the face which is the way to release ourselves from this imprisonment and from the limits imposed on us by a self-centered worldview.  Because in this sense, what the face, the true face of the other does is communicate to us an understanding of the world from the outside in.  Communicates to us intuitively, empathically that we are not the center of existence, that we are in fact surrounded by beings who are just as emotionally rich, just as intricately complex, just as human as we are.
• It is so easy to forget this, both in the minutia of everyday life as well as in the bigger trials where it seems that despite all of humanity being at stake, we still refuse to see it.  We are still afraid to truly let in the face of the other.  This is probably because it can be a confrontational experience, too, for facing true humanity can remind us of how distracted, how ignorant and blind we have really been, remind us of how much we have let it go to waste.
• I dishonored it all because I didn't notice the glory, the light in the eyes of others.  The guide you on your way.
• And yet despite all this, deep down there is a part of us that wants exactly this.  That just longs to break free, this feels especially true when considering how some of the most powerful stories in human history are those in which humanity was placed front and center.  When for one extraordinary moment we set aside everything else, everything that we would get worked up about to instead dedicate all of our effort and focus and purpose towards affirming and safeguarding the humanity of others.  
• Not because they mean anything to us personally, not because they are vital to some greater good that indirectly serves us, too, but simply because they are truly recognized as human beings.  And because in such moments we know that that is enough.
• Stories like these, stories in which the dulling effect of our day to day life is momentarily broken, when we are briefly stripped from our abstractions that reveal just how intuitively we are geared towards each other's humanity and how easily, almost reflexively it drives us to act in solidarity and cooperation.  Suddenly fills us with purpose, a quiet ecstatic feeling that we are finally engaged in something truly meaningful.  That we are finally doing something that truly matters.
• These are exceptional occurrences and it would be unreasonable to expect us to act like this all the time.
• Maybe we should?  Maybe the true weight of humanity should overwhelm us?  Maybe it should hurt us to the point where it forces us to change our ways?  Maybe the humanity of others should occupy our every thought and action?  Maybe it should be the guiding principal for our every aspiration both as individuals and as a society.
• This doesn't have to be some utopian ideal.  But as an intuitive principal that we already know and act upon when we need it most.  A principal that whenever we feel lost, whenever we fall short can always be found again in the face of the other, in the humanity that provides us with hope, courage and creativity.  With guidance for meaningful engagement and with a clear path towards the betterment of ourselves, of others and of the human race in it's entirety.

Be Kind

Notes:

• I want to focus on that wonderful concept, that vital virtue, that unfortunately and regrettably is often forgotten - the virtue of kindness.  Being kind.
• Story: Twenty years ago a man drove a cab for a living, when he arrived at 2:30 in the morning, the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.  Under these circumstances many cab drivers would honk once or twice, wait a minute then drive away.  But he had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation to drive away.  Unless the situation smelled of danger he always went to the door.  So he walked in the door and knocked.  "Just a moment."  Answered a frail, elderly voice.  After a long pause the door opened.  A small woman in her 80's stood before him, by her side was a small nylon suitcase.  "Would you carry this bag out to the car for me?"  
• He took the suitcase out and returned to assist the woman.  She took his arm and walked slowly toward the curb and kept thanking him for his kindness.  He told her it was nothing and that he tried to treat all his passengers the way he would want his mother treated.  When they got in the cab she gave him an address then she said, "Oh by the way could you drive through downtown?"  It's not the shortest way but he did not mind.  She was on her way to a hospice.  He looked in the rearview mirror and her eyes were glistening.  "I don't have any family left."  She said, almost to her self.  "The doctor says I don't have very long."  
• He quietly reached over and shut off the meter and asked her what route she would like him to take.  For the next two hours they drove all around the city.  She showed him the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator, they drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds.  She had him pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
• Some time she had asked him to slow down in front of a particular building or corner, she would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.  As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon she suddenly said, "Okay, I am ready, let's go now."  They drove in silence to the address given.  It was a low building.  Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as they pulled up, they were solicitous and intent, watching her every move, they were expecting her.  He opened the trunk, took out the small suitcase, carried it to the door.  The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.  "How much do I owe you?"  She asked.  He told her she owed him nothing.  She insisted, but he declined, telling her he had other passengers.
• Almost without thinking he bend over and gave her a hug and she held onto him tightly.  "You gave an old woman a little bit of joy."  She said.  "Thank you."  He squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light.  Behind him a door shut, it was the sound of the closing of a life.  He drove aimlessly, lost in thought for the rest of the day.  He could hardly talk.  What if that woman had gotten in an angry driver earlier that morning or one who was impatient?  What if he had refused to take the run or honk once and had driven away?  On a quick review he didn't think he had done anything more important in all his life...
• The story helps him allow life to make up it's mind again.  You need to remember that story.  The times you will want to be anything but kind because it is so much easier to bear a grudge and hate in return, or get back, or get even.  Hate destroys the vessel it is kept in.  Revenge never healed a wound. 
• There is one thing all of us have in common, we've been mistreated by somebody.  Some of you have known abuse, misunderstanding, and all of this has a way of siphoning your tank of kindness.  It can make you hard and you can get on with hard, you can get along with it.  Some will even respect you more because you are tough.  You are urged not to be.  Be kind.  Tender hearted.  Forgiving one another.
• When you are truly free of revenge and bitterness, there is plenty of room in your heart left for kindness.  And not until.
• Do what's right, do justice.  Love kindness, walk humbly with your God. 
• Maybe you were born a really nice person with a gentle, sweet personality and being kind to people comes pretty naturally to you, but I think more the globe is not that way than is, and the good news is we can change.
• It's amazing what one kind word can do.  We don't think anything about it, but to the other person it breathes life into their spirit.  Our words have the power to lift people.  To help them get through a challenge.  To push them into their destinies.  When you tell someone, "I love you, I am proud of you, you did great on that project."  You're not just being kind, those are healing words.  
• We don't know what people are going through, they may smile on the outside but on the inside they are hurting, they are lonely, discouraged.  Many people have wounds from the past.  Wounds from a relationship that didn't work out, wounds from people trying to push them down.  Just a simple word of encouragement.  "I believe in you.  I am praying for you."  A simple complement.  "You look beautiful today."  It is no big deal to you, but to them it helps heal wounds and lifts their spirits and causes them to believe in themselves.  Your words can be what keeps them moving forward.  
• God puts people in our lives on purpose so we can bring healing.  Letting people know that you care does more than you imagine.  You have the power to put someone on their feet.  You have the power to keep them from falling into depression.  You have the power to cause them to pursue their dreams.
• Be free with your complements.  You can think well of your friend, but if you never tell them they will never know.  God wouldn't have brought it up if he didn't want you to tell them.  He wouldn't have put that thought in you if the other person didn't need it.  
• You may not know them, it may not make sense to you, but God knows what he is doing.  There is a reason, they need your healing.  Don't withhold it, or reason it out.
• In his early 20's a young man came up to the gym to play basketball.  He was a loner.  Unfriendly.  Cold.  He never talked, even during the games he wouldn't interact with people.  Most of the guys just ignored him, but something down in him told him to reach out to the man and make him feel welcome.  He found out that his name was Bo.  When he would come into the gym he would go over and tell him it was great to see him.  Bo never said anything, he just hit his chest twice and walked away.  He didn't know what that meant, but he hit his chest twice and walked away.  This went on for several years, he saw his four or five times a week.  Well he stopped playing basketball there an he had not seen Bo in over 20 years.  One Sunday he showed up at church.  He saw him afterwards.  He thought, "Where do I know this guy from?"  He introduced himself.  This was the most he had ever heard him talk.  He went on to tell how he grew up in the projects.  At 14 he started living on his own, nobody wanted him, he never felt loved or accepted.  He said one of the main reasons he went to the gym was to hear you say, "Great to see you today.  Because nobody had told him they were glad to see him."  Those simple words, letting him know he was cared for were like life giving water.  Today Bo is married, he introduced the guy to his children and is setting a new standard for his family.  
• Nobody is in your life by accident.  Don't ignore what you feel on the inside, the compassion to encourage them, that desire to be their friend.  Take time to make them feel loved.  Doesn't have to be something big.  Just let them know that you care.

Quote

Wetiko:  How to heal the insanity of humanity

Notes:

• This talk focuses on understanding the suffering and insanity that is playing out before us in the world and all that goes along with it, and what can we do about it?  We are living in the age of a crisis of sanity.
• We are in the middle of a collective psychosis of epic proportions and it is so pervasive that it's not even that much of a part of our planetary conversation and that's an expression of the depth of the madness that has overtaken our species.
• The origin of the madness that is playing out in our world through the greater body politic is the psyche and it is an obvious problem and yet from the consensus reality point of view what is being said seems out there and radical.
• There is an actual disease in the collective unconscious, but encoded in this disease is actually medicine and is helping to wake us up but it is a quantum phenomena - quantum entities, they can be like a wave or particle - and how it manifests depends on how we interact and observe it, the same thing with this disease.
• The Native Americans talk about it, they call it Wetiko/Wendigo.  They talk about it as a cannibal spirit that consumes and takes without giving anything back and they have all these metaphors for it, it is a parasite of the mind, virus of the psyche.
• It's not just metaphor in the sense that we understand in the physical realm that there are viruses and this is a psychic virus and it operates through our unconscious blind spots in such a way that we then become the instrument to act this virus out in the world, so we act out our unconscious in a way where we become the conduit through which this higher dimensional entity - that does not exist, but is experienced as an entity - but it ultimately doesn't have any existence at all separate from our mind and yet here is this thing that does not exist and it can destroy our species and that is the paradox.
• The thing about this virus, it operates through the blind spots in such a way that it works through the projective tendencies of our mind.
• Just like a dream, a dream is an inkblot and what we project shapeshifts and reflects back to us because it is not separate out there and it happens in an instant and then we become entranced by our own projections in such a way were we think it is separate from us so then we react to our projections and that in a sense is really the process underlying and informing the Wetiko virus.
• One thing about it, it's a form of blindness but it's a particular form of blindness in that we actually think we are really clearly seeing and not only do we think we see, we in an arrogant way we think we see more clearly than people who are clear sighted and so what it does is that it creates a source of madness in ourselves and due to everyone suffering from it, we don't see it.
• It is a disease of the soul and explicates itself, and expresses itself via the medium of the outside world.
• Somehow there is something in the psyche that actually is able to extend itself out into the world and configure events in this seemingly outer world so as to synchronistically express what is going on inside of us and that is always happening but with most of us we don't recognize that and we become conditioned by our projections in a way we become hypnotized.
• The paradox is the most important thing to grasp is that it is there, but it is not there and it has the power to induce a negative hallucination.
• When we have a hallucination we are seeing something not there, so a negative one is that something is there and we can't see it.
• People who are actually seeing this shadow and abuse and it is obvious to some but there are others who are shown this, like in a family system of abuse and then there are people who just don't see it.  They somehow cannot see what to others couldn't be more obvious, that is a negative hallucination. 
• This is part of what makes this phenomenon really dangerous because in an effort to perhaps awaken or help people step out of their own self destruction, they are not only unable to see it but are resistant to others to help heal the disease.
• While some people are deeply asleep and that carries with it all sorts of things, many are awakening, but in their awakening they are trying to deal with the insanity of the world in ways that are actually not conducive, but fueling the Wetiko itself.
• Wetiko will inspire us to act out in ways that don't serve us.  We can all recognize when we are acting out patterns, we know they are not helping us but we do it anyway. 
• The thing about Wetiko, it operates through blind spots, parts of us that actually react to our projection, so when we see Wetiko, we see the evil playing outside of ourselves all around us, if we react to it from an unconscious place with even the best intentions, with self righteousness - if it is reacting from an unconscious place we unwittingly feed it.  It feeds off polarization.  
• This is why some of the best people, spiritually very interested, but unwittingly serving as a vector to feed the disease that they are fighting against.  Wetiko then because it is contagious and it will propagate itself in a nonlocal way through the field via unconscious reactions to it.
• Another big role is deception on personal and collective scales that Wetiko carries.  In other traditions they will give these names to Wetiko and they will say that these are incredible masters of deception.  If you think about it, we ourselves are these geniuses at tricking ourselves and one way of understanding that is that we can tell a lie and start to believe our lie to the point where we can't see it and we become in denial and it creates a feedback loop and we can't see it, but if we see it then the whole thing would be disassembled so it becomes a self generating process of deception.  Charisma can be a spell when it comes to lying.
• Wetiko can effect and individual person but it is a mistake to think of it as a pathology that another person has and that you do not have because it is a collective psychosis and it is important to understand that the evil of Wetiko works through the group, through a species, a nation, so that's the way that it will propagate itself and so that is why it is important to know that any one of us can get taken over by it and embody the disease, but if we see a person in that state and think they have it and we don't, well, Wetiko feeds on polarization, separation, so the idea being if you see somebody who's embodying Wetiko, if you have the understanding of it, if they are a dream they are an embodied reflection of the sick part of you - then you cut through the separation and putting compassion into it.
• Compassion is the energy that dispels Wetiko.  The nature of humility brings a whole new meaning to the idea that we are one, because if we can't see that we are all carriers by being human is that if we can't see that in others and bring ourselves to that level of humility - that it could have been you - that does help us to cultivate compassion.  
• Compassion is one of the ways to increase and enhance our lucidity in this dreamlike nature of reality.
• One can realize they are lucid dreaming.  Levy mentions the first on and then from then on, at the moment of lucidity in his first dream, spontaneously from the core of his soul he chanted a mantra.  He didn't even know it.  The mantra of compassion.  And then the second dream, the same thing.  As he began developing, he was receiving teachings, when you have a real awakening it is a co-joining of two factors - realizing emptiness and compassion.  The emptiness is lucidity, the recognition that the universe doesn't exist objectively separated from your own mind.  As he realized emptiness, the compassion came forth and if it a real awakening, it's never one or the other - you have the two right there together.  So to see the dream like nature of reality is to cultivate compassion in yourself, that that really feeds the lucid part of ourselves.
• The dysfunctional relationship we have with material objects - food, drugs, shopping, alcohol - in an effort to fill that void - can we understand this and how this is all stemming from Wetiko?
• Wetiko is a psychic eating disorder where we're trained by culture to consume and take inside of us, to fill that void that can never be filled and so it becomes insatiable where it's like having an addiction, or trauma, a reaction to trauma is the thing that creates the trauma and it becomes a perpetuating feedback loop.  So many people, they are investing their energy in doing everything and anything to get away from experiencing that void inside, that emptiness, but that emptiness has a fullness to it.
• Wetiko is the source of the greatest evil that our species is perpetrating on the world, but encoded in it is this jewel, this gift and how it manifests depends on how we observe it.
• It is like when somebody becomes a vampire, they try to do it to others.  That is the shadow getting acted out in the world.  If it develops enough energy it can destroy the planet.  The poison and the medicine are right there combined, which one is going to manifest depends on if we have the sight.  Something is being shown to us by what we are acting out in the world and if we don't have the sight of what is being shown, we're going to continue to destroy ourselves but once enough of us see it, that will expand consciousness, then we can change the dream.  This is evolutionary. 
• Wetiko is a counterfeiting spirit.  In the Bible they talk about a spirit such as this.  What that means is that it will imitate us, shapeshift and take our form and then if we are not awake in that moment we will identify with it's image of who we are, which is limited, and then we have become like a channel for it.
• The way the economy right now is operating is not so much what is happening in the financial world is not a real economy, it is a bubble economy.  We are not creating genuine wealth and abundance.  Money is moved around - it doesn't even have value.  It is a three card Monty game - an image of wealth but there is nothing there.  The way the economy is being enacted is kind of like a counterfeit of what a real economy is, which has to do with the harmonic exchange for goods and services.  
• Wetiko can only operate if it is not being seen.  What that means is that if you think about Wetiko as if it is an entity, it can't stand to have Light shown on it, to be seen because just like with a vampire, the vampire has no power, it has to hide.  That is symbolically showing that's the Wetiko that if you shed Light on it in your own mind, all of a sudden, two things happen - you have taken away it's power and you empower yourself.
• To see it you can look through a number of systems, individually, through relationships, the economy, all these ways of seeing how it will operate in a system and aberrate the system - in the human psyche it is like this pathological entity will come into the psyche and it will co-opt more and more over time the healthy parts of the psyche to serve its pathology and then the person affected, because it is unseen, they will have no idea of what is happening, that they are being taken over and of service to the dark forces.  They themselves feel more like themselves and meanwhile something comes through them and they are just an instrument for the darkness to be played out and the point is when you begin to see that, that's where you begin to become free of it.
• Some irony here is that it needs to be seen for us to be able to have an effective means of dealing with it and transcending and yet this topic of darkness, of evil, Wetiko and however we choose to see it is one that makes many people very uncomfortable.  It isn't appealing, but this is how it works because the word evil is so charged and people have such a reaction, and well intentioned people that are spiritual, they are not wanting to even give evil the time of day or put any attention on it, but by avoiding it, they feed it.
• People want to wake and be filled with Light, but it has no value unless it will show us the darkness.  If Light doesn't shed on darkness, then what is its use?  What good is it?  The point is, is that if the darkness is turned away from and not delt with, then we empower it.  Bring awareness to the shadowy energies that we are colluding with.
• Guilt doesn't feel good, to think of our impact.  But this is part of that identity attachment, how the ego can sabotage our own wellbeing.
• Built into the phenomena of Wetiko is a counter-incentive to see our own complicity.  It is painful and will create a form of trauma, it will bring up a feeling of guilt - so then if we don't have the courage to face the negativity but to wake up you have to face your own shadow, to see your own complicity in your suffering and the evil playing in the world.  Built into the whole dynamic is a counter-incentive so people would much prefer to blame others, see the evil out there, but that projection of the shadow is the way that Wetiko is actually animated.  
• That is the psychological process that underlies the whole phenomenon - say if you are not in touch with your own shadow, the darker part - or the Light part not owned - it is this darker more disliked part - say if one is split off from the shadow and doesn't own the darkness?  What will happen?  It will be projected outwards.  If you are in a dream, what will happen?  The dream will be carriers of the shadow, the dream is your own psyche expressed through the medium of your dream.  In walks somebody that embodies these darker forces that were disowned by the dreamer and projected onto the outside subject - now there is "evidence" of the evil being "out there".  That will more entrench a person in that viewpoint that the evil is out there - so one becomes more fixed, the shadow grows and the more it will manifest in a dark way and it becomes a feedback loop whose origin is of the mind.  We do that while awake, that if any of us are projecting our own darkness, this universe is dream like and will supply evidence that the evil exists outside of ourselves - then we become more fixated on where it is manifesting - we try to destroy the evil which is the impulse to get rid of our darkness, we are becoming possessed by the very darkness that we are trying to destroy and become taken over by the very evil we fear.  This is the dynamic of how evil propagates.  
• One of the ways of being able to free ourselves from it is to connect with being creative, with expressing ourselves creatively, but there is a fine line between creativity and destruction of self or other that if you don't express yourself, then you can see in subtle ways it will become destructive. 
• It's not a personal energy, it's an archetypal energy.  A transpersonal energy.  A higher dimensional energy and it is daemonic energy.  It means "guiding spirit" and it is our ally, it actually has to do with genies, genius, calling, vocation, hearing voices, all of those things are related to the daemon and the point is if we get into relation to it, encoded in it is the creative spirit, if we get into relation with it we will find our true potential.  If we don't connect with it, it will become negative.  It will become a demon - what the Native Americans called an autonomous complex, a split part of the psyche that develops autonomy and seems to have an independent will of it's own.  Encoded in that whole energy is our creative spirit and that is the profound importance of expressing ourselves creatively.  
• Whatever the soul does to itself it cannot help but do to others.  It is beautiful when positive but if we are not using that creative energy constructively then we are not only destroying our own sense of being, but the good efforts of others.  If we are self destructive then we are externally destructive as well.
• If somebody is taken over by Wetiko and it establishes themselves in their mind stream, they kill their own soul.  When they meet somebody outside of themselves who is actually a carrier of Light, that will unconsciously be a reflection of the very Light that they have killed in themselves and they literally can't stand that so they will in an unconscious compulsive way where they can't help themselves, they will act out to destroy the Light they see that somebody else is carrying because it is too painful for them to have that reminder of the Light they have killed in themselves.
• The solution, the cure, the healing lies within us becoming awake and lucid and being able to look and face our own shadows, our own darkness.  There is too many people in our world that think the problem is outside of ourselves.  The universe will supply the evidence.  
• When we begin to realize that the evil seen outside - it is a quantum system - our reaction isn't separate.  What is inside is happening outside, they are reflections of each other.  Turn your attention on your darkness and see what is being triggered by the evil.  
• If everyone is doing this and cultivate compassion and lucidity and then we connect with each other, that is where our power rests.
• One of the revelations of quantum physics is the profound creative power inside of our mind and influence the way reality manifests and as one person wakes up to that, and then a group, go to the metaphor of a dream and you become lucid, then there are the dream characters are aspects of yourself, if they also have lucidity, and then connect with each other and contemplate what you are realizing.
• We are dreaming this up moment by moment into realization.  The entire universe.  When enough of us realize this we can put our sacred power of dreaming together consciously in a way where we can change the dream we are having.  We created Wetiko and we can uncreate it.
• We ourselves have an unbelievable untapped power of creativity but in a sense what Wetiko does, it turns that creative genius that we all have to create our experience of ourselves and the world, it is in a sense, turned that genius against us in a way where we have imprisoned ourselves and so many people are just walking around in this larval limited state of despair and depression and powerlessness and they compulsively act out in a way that feeds that state.
• As we add more awareness into that very process, then those same energies that are automating our suffering, we can access in a way to express Love and compassion and to be creative.
• This has nothing to do with New Age, every tradition has this wisdom.  Castaneda calls it The Flyer, this is the topic of topics and there is nothing more important for shamans than understanding this.  If we don't come to terms with Wetiko and what it is showing us, we will destroy our species and the biosphere.  It doesn't make a difference the name, but it is important to find a name that speaks to you to give you awareness of what it is you are pointing at because Wetiko operates through the shadows - tricky and illusive.
• Even in mythology/fairytales they talk about the importance of finding the name for the offending demon, it has to be the right name, the proper name, once you find the name it takes away the power of the demon.  Wetiko can be understood - it is the name of what's ailing our species.
• Face up to it, do not be afraid, it feeds on fear.  Be courageous.  Wetiko can destroy our species through poverty, war, environmental destruction or if confronted, named and understood it can introduce us to the dream like nature of reality which changes everything.  There is the creative aspect, the awareness, compassion, cultivation of mindfulness and imagination.
• So many of us in our culture which does not value imagination hear this word and think of it as not real.  But traditions talk about the source, the basis of our experience and ourselves and the universe is the creative imagination.  And that when you think about that, all of the works of the greatest work of art and science - in quantum physics the more like the greatest physicists couldn't say enough about the profound importance of creative imagination in discovering whatever science was being done - it is important to understand that in a sense, it's the primordial phenomena, the way that we interpret.  
• We generate the meaning of the universe and the way our minds work is as soon as we interpret the ink blot a certain way it will offer evidence to show us/give us proof that it is that way, but it's easy for us to become entranced, so our imagination through the creative imagination we can entrance ourselves if we don't plug into it in a conscious way.  People who think the imagination is not real and that it is a figment, they will become convinced of the truth of that, the source of that is their imagination - this is the irony of it.
• In Tibetan Buddhism they have this teaching that Levy made into four words:  As viewed, so appears.  As you view something, that's the way it will appear.  Like an equation for how we co-create reality and that is an expression of being in a dream that if you hold a perspective in a dream, the dream being Mind will instantly shapeshift and reflect back the very perspective you hold.  If you are not awake to that process we can entrance ourselves into the objective "out there" and then we react to it.  
• This is what quantum physics has seen through.  We are not separate from the world.  We influence the universe, the observer is the observed. The very instant you view it, that same instant it will manifest as what you are projecting and so if you explain to someone the as viewed so appears, and if they think that is not true, the universe at that moment will reflect back to them that it is not true and they will take it as confirmation.  What they don't see is that it is confirming the profundity of it all.  
• Our mind is so creative/genius but Wetiko plugs in where it imprisons us through our genius.  If we shed Light on that dynamic you then access your creative genius in a way that serves you and the world.  That is the solution to Wetiko.  
• There are too many people imagining the worst case scenario.  There are many issues going on to focus on, but if we turn that around, if we view things in this pessimistic way, then we are an agent for Wetiko because if we view things pessimistically, we are not aware that we are then increasing the probability that things will manifest in a pessimistic way.  You inform the thing you react to.  It is important for any of us to not fall into pessimism, despair, depression, to see things negatively.  It is seductive and convincing and easy to get hooked by how terrible things are, but if we do that then we are complicit in the negative stuff that is happening.  
• On the one hand, witnessing darkness allows you to see what is going on, but also you can develop a capability that as much as the negative is happening in the world, instead of falling into despair it can stimulate the impulse to be of help to others, and that is a muscle that we can all cultivate when you see the horrors playing out.  Let it inspire you to find your voice and to be of help.
• At the end of the day, why all the challenge?  Why can't we just be here and have fun?  Even though this Wetiko, this evil spirit, this disease of the psyche seems challenging, perhaps it serves the very purpose for our awakening.  Is Wetiko taking us down or waking us up?
• If Wetiko did not exist, we would have to invent it.  It is unwittingly serving the evolution of our species because it is like a germ or a virus, it begins to mutate, well Wetiko forces us to mutate relative to it.  So it is actually in a secret way serving our evolution, so all of these traditions - Kabbalah - the source of the greatest good is evil, without evil encoded - alchemy talks about this, gnostic, Buddhists, that encoded in the poison is the Light and you have to extract the Light that is hidden within the darkness.  
• It will only serve our evolution if we have the recognition.  It is showing us something.  It is revealing something to us and if we don't get the message, same thing, if we have a dream and we don't get the message it will be a reoccurring dream and more amplified until we get the message and once we get it we no longer have to have that dream - same thing in the world - there is something that is being shown and it is being shown symbolically.  Symbols are the language of dreams.  That's why the profound importance of cultivating symbolic awareness, of seeing the dream like nature and interpreting this as if it were a dream.  How would you interpret a unique dream?  We can take that perspective and view our life in that way.  
• The word symbol is actually the antidote.  The word diabolic means that which divides.  Symbol means that which brings together.  Developing symbolic awareness is in a sense the cure to the evil of Wetiko.  We can then work symbiotically together.
• In Buddhism they talk about the three jewels of the foundation of enlightenment, the teacher, teaching and the sangha is the community.  There is a profound importance of connecting with other people, we can help each other to awaken.  Connect and then we can create whatever form, a new form of activism, or art, or awakening in the dream, whatever it is we can dream up and create together to be a benefit.
• Wetiko operates through blind spots - the way of healing is to see and there are three ways that are interconnected to see it:  First would be to see the collective dream, a mass shared dream.  The second is to see the field, a non-local field that actually contains us, this 3D universe is contained in a higher dimension where there is no separation and quantum physics is pointing to this, and the third is the recognition that we are not separate, interconnected and interdependent and out of those three - the energetic expression of that is compassion.  Compassion is the Wetiko dissolver par excellence.  Do what you can to cultivate compassion to see through the imagination that we are separate, that would be of service to the whole world.

And yeah, they whisper
Don't forget me now
See the morning
All out pain went down
Nobody left
Purify
We built an idol
To burn the bodies down

Delicious ape, you are undelicious ape
Comic, hairy, gross, childish arms
Banging all the time on garbage drums
Will tremble before your tallows mess
Naming himself after a god and that god is the god of undelicious apes

For appearance
Sick and devout
Seek forgiveness
In horror, pain, and flight

You remember me now?
Covered in blood
'Til the rain came down
Let it recall
Soaked in blood
Some never learned
Of the radiant dawn

You remember me now?
Choking and burning
In the rays of the dawn

Stop haunting me
It was long ago
Burn candles
Purify
Let me go

Quote

"Rolling in the deep"

There's a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare

See how I'll leave with every piece of you
Don't underestimate the things that I will do
There's a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark

The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love they leave me breathless
I can't help feeling

We could've had it all (you're gonna wish you)
(Never had met me)
Rolling in the deep (tears are gonna fall)
(Rolling in the deep)

You had my heart inside (you're gonna wish you)
Of your hands (never had met me)
And you played it (tears are gonna fall)
To the beat (rolling in the deep)

Baby, I have no story to be told
But I've heard one on you, now I'm gonna make your head burn
Think of me in the depths of your despair
Make a home down there, as mine sure won't be shared

Throw your soul through every open door (whoa)
Count your blessings to find what you look for (whoa)
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold (whoa)
You pay me back in kind and reap just what you've sown

"You will lose the small ones, but win the big ones."

Quote

You must go where I cannot,
'Pangur Ban' 'Pangur Ban',
There is nothing in this life but mist,
And we will only be alive,
for a short time.

"It is a Kingdom of conscience, or nothing."
"Be an outsider"✨

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Loba
The witnessing and transmutation of corruption.

[Loba]

Quote

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread (thread, thread)

Leave my door open just a crack
Please take me away from here
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
Please take me away from here
Why do I tire of counting sheep?
Please take me away from here
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said, "Farewell" (they said farewell)
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar (jar, jar, jar)

The Rapture

For more than 1,800 years, Christians understood “the rapture” to be the blissful moment of Jesus’ second coming. But within the last century and a half, a new interpretation emerged. Today, Barry Cooper helps us consider what the Bible says about the rapture of Christ’s church.

What is the rapture?

• One view of the rapture has been popularized in the Left Behind series of books and movies. The rapture is depicted as the moment when Jesus silently “raptures” His people to be with Him, leaving the rest of the world to cope with their sudden absence. Obviously, the effect on those left behind is dramatic and makes for a great movie. Cars start veering wildly on the freeway because they suddenly lack drivers, airplanes plummet from the sky because they suddenly lack pilots, and select branches of Chick-fil-A are left slightly understaffed.
• The rapture is one of those terms that doesn’t actually appear in the Bible, but it has become a shorthand way of describing a concept that definitely does appear in the Bible.
• The word rapture means exaltation or happiness. It describes being transported—at least emotionally—to a place of total delight.
• And for more than eighteen centuries, the rapture was understood to be the moment of Jesus Christ’s second coming—the time when Jesus returns, calls His people to be with Him forever, and judges the living and the dead.
• However, in the last century and a half, a new understanding of the rapture emerged. This new interpretation was popularized by a man named John Nelson Darby, whose teachings have become known as dispensationalism. You can see Darby’s influence in the Left Behind series.
• In contrast to the previous eighteen centuries of teaching, Darby taught that Jesus would effectively return in two stages. First, He would come secretly to “rapture” the church. Millions of believers would suddenly disappear.
• And then, at some point in the future after that, Jesus Christ would return again in visible glory to judge the living and the dead.
• The big question is, What does Scripture say about this? Is there support for a secret rapture of the church, followed later by the second coming of Christ? Or are the two events one and the same?
• The key passage is 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17, where the Apostle Paul is clarifying what will happen to Christians who have died—specifically, what will happen to them at the time of the second coming. And what will happen to those who are still alive at the time of the second coming? Paul says this:
  We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. [“Those who are asleep”—a beautiful way of describing those in Christ who have died. Paul continues:] For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
• If this is describing a moment of secret rapture, it doesn’t sound very secret: there’s a “cry of command” from the Lord Himself, there’s the “voice of an archangel,” and there’s “the sound of the trumpet of God.”
• And here’s something else to consider. This moment Paul describes, when “the Lord himself will descend” and gather His people to Himself—is that really something that happens some years before the final judgment?
• Read on in 1 Thessalonians. Paul talks about “the day of the Lord,” the day of judgment, and he tells Christians that they shouldn’t be surprised when that day comes. Which strongly suggests that Christians will still be on the earth at that moment, rather than having been previously removed from it.
• So, the most likely interpretation of the rapture is the one the church held for eighteen and a half centuries. It is something that will happen when the Lord returns in His glory to judge the living and the dead, the blissful moment when we are taken up to be with Him forever.
• Whichever view we take, however, as Christians our hope is the same. We look forward eagerly to Christ’s triumphant return, when He will make all things new.

I have been thinking about the rapture lately and how something like that would pan out, and how it could Be made fair for All people who work with the Light, despite different belief systems.  While I Am a Christian and believe in Christ, just as I believe in a Good and an evil, it doesn't Feel accurate to condemn different ways of living, and to then subject those people to an eternity of torment for evolving in a different culture.  Especially if they lived properly and were decent people.  And I don't think that a just God would do this, either.  I think that instead there is a flow of "right action" and "wrong action", and that Jesus exists as a figure and an energy to correct those who have lived by wrong action - either aware and wanting to repent - or unaware like myself and stumbling into it's own rotting design without a proper container to pool the effects of it into.  I believe that Jesus exists as an antidote to the poisons of evil.  As someone who saw into the trickery of this reality, and how it consumes human lives through falsities.  I guess, as someone who Knows how easily it is to fall into this, and how even now I still stumble along the way - some days being full of Love and Light and other days, old reflexes take over subtly, I want people to Be safe to continue to grow.  For their souls to Be cleaned off from the residue of wrong action - that only those who saw the Truth of it All and continued on doing rotten things would have nowhere to go - that has been written, although I wish for even those to Be restored into something lovely - but anyone who is Good or stuck in the design of ignorance is given a second chance.

Who gets this and who doesn't?  That is absolutely not up to me, beyond my hopeful speculation.  I Am not the judge of those sorts of things, nor would I ever want to Be.  I See people who live this way, as if they can choose how a soul is to Be condemned, and I would rather work on how to save them.  I Am of the impression that most people, given the education and the space to transform themselves are at Heart Good people who would do the right thing.  The more I work on this, the less I want to share my beliefs, the more I just wish to right was went wrong with me.  Loudness, speaking up, speaking out, it just seems less appropriate the further along I get.  And I still Feel this sense of needing to remain vigilant.  That at any moment a person can fall right back into it.  My Lord, I write in the Spirit of Good Will, and of course, if I overstep, let me Know.  I Am, as usual, moving around to learn if I Am doing this correctly.  I Feel reestablished in my sense of purpose today and Am reminded of how easily a sin can pop right up again.  I remember.  I Will keep trying.  I have Faith.  In these moments, I forget how I get caught up in the dream once I get a vision and then reality and the consciousness it inhabits.

Note to self:  Don't expect perfection.  Just keep trying, rerouting back to your task at hand each time you fall off.  The keys: Compassion, Unity, Empathy, Kindness, Love, Prayer, Repentance and the merging of Opposites.  As I write, building upon this entry, the nature of Love has reemerged.  A very simple thing, but a pivotal key.  This is what you pool into your water.  It is altruism in a pure sense, but I could go further with it still.  It's fresh.  

The rapture does not seem to Be a part of many Christian traditions in the way that people think of it, but I admittedly didn't give it a Good enough look to See what different branches thought about it.  From my personal experiences of the soul, it seems to Be a multi-layered, multidimensional spark of Life, created with the inquisitive desire to understand itself in as many perspectives as possible and has the entirety of eternity to do so.  But due to the nature of eternity being something that expands itself forever, a soul's work is never done.  Most of the uncovering of different layers while in a human incarnation is done through the Heart, which is close to where the soul is found.  It Feels sweet, like an orgasm in your chest comingled with the taste of golden, rich honey on the tongue, and thus is then found in your Words either then or soon after.  Because I believe that the soul puts down many different lives to on Earth and not in direct order pertaining to time and space - when the "rapture" happens it won't come from the perspective of linear time - but perhaps All across the lifespan of human civilization, with whichever soul is most aware of the process Being the first to go up.  I believe that there are an innumerable amount of souls, but less so than what would Be every individual human.  This is probably how the concept of twin flames got started.  To expand on that, I don't Feel that there is just one twin flame, as I don't Feel that the soul only puts down just two portions of itself even within a single lifetime, but perhaps thousands, if not hundreds of thousands All at once - and they only Feel to Be linear from the point of view of being in this body, but really, All of it is dipped down, and then All is brought up at once and merged.

When we think of it in these terms, then the rapture would not Be one localized event.  It would Be a spiritual phenomenon that happens throughout human history, a unique one for when the student is ready they Will Be given.  If the Earth is set up like a school, where humans are meant to learn about Love - a much wider topic than the four letter Word indicates - then those who are given the gift, the kiss of True Love, then one does "wake up", much like the Princess in a fairytale.  Faith and Love is required for this to take place.

My hope is that All people who are Good and or who are ignorant are brought up into this process - somewhere safe and exhausted - and cleaned off.  Purified.  Reset.  That the vestiges of trauma and evil that have gotten into them are removed and that they are set Free to create from a higher vantage point.  One that allows the soul to build with the intended design in Mind - creation out of Love and Connection.  I wish for people's curiosities to Be brought back into them.  Their innocence.  Their sense of dignity and of peace.  I believe that most people are either Good at Heart, or uninformed.  

When people die, the illusion of time and space is Seen for what it is, and so everyone is joined with you at the same time.  In order to prevent confusion humans start off in a pseudo-physical form, perhaps resembling who they once were but more often than not a mixture of who the person felt to Be on the inside, youthful and beautiful.  Perfect symmetry is the norm in this new existence. Bodily issues are no longer a problem.  Menstruation, relieving one's self, bathing, eating, drinking, shaving, brushing your teeth and hair, eyeglasses, sickness, deformities, desire, frustration, anger, sadness, loneliness, regret - All of this does not take part in this new reality.  We have it on Earth to create the right polarity so that a soul can Know the difference between what it has and what it does not, so that it can build upon Love and creativity in a manner that glorifies the True nature of God.  Of goodness and divinity.  This is not to say that darkness does not have it's place within the cosmology, but that humans moved into this elevated state are not food nor prey for these forces.  They are out of reach of the cruelty and disconnection of Wetiko.  As are the animals of whom are Truly the innocents.  They are treated as children, for they are simply younger souls who have not developed the ability to Know themselves to the degree of man, but who are destined for the same thing, just as those shepherds who herd the collective mankind into an existence of peace and Love were once as men that over the course of their own evolution became gentle, loyal stewards and gatekeepers.

Humans are brought into a large building that looks like an ornate white train station, where they one by one are given their life reviews and then put back together.  All lives they have lived, the entire strand condensed into one Being's permanent expression.  They view this through a pool of living holy water, as the nature of water is one of memory and imprint.  After this, they are taken to a waterfall and allowed to bathe there, cleaned from All forms of fear and suffering.  When they emerge, they are reborn and are sent back to their groups.  There are many groups that are destined to play out certain outcomes while alive in order to learn the Truth.  One Love.  Unity.  There are teachers for each of these groups, and these teachers are now instructed to give them the next lesson.  How to create.  This is God's gift.  Because creation in its most potent expression is of Love, lifeforms are brought down to lower levels of physical development essentially in order to learn how to Be pure enough to Be a proper creator.  Ones who create from an egoic, self-centered stance are not given as much power and leeway as those who develop with the entire panoply of lifeforms, the web of Life, in Mind.  As those who See into the interconnected design begin to grow on Earth, more gifts, more miracles, more Knowledge is granted.  Their Words, only then, can set in motion a chain of events that Will provide benefit to the whole.  And so, those who are purified in Heaven are each given their own holy water and Prima Materia - the soil, of which to grow the Mind and Heart's garden within.  For you See, the Soul is not just a body, it is a living and dynamically shaped, ever growing atmosphere, where plays are set forth on a grand stage in order to learn about itself at it's farthest reaches.  Everything Good is destined for this.  This is the breath of Life, the gift of God.  And my wish... my One True Wish (cornball), is to save mankind from the clutches of selfishness and disconnection and to bring them into some form of divine accordance that moves with Law, instead of against it - so that each creature is granted the sovereignty that it deserves.

Until you read The Bible, until you personally bring the Word into fruition, it does not exist - you Will not See it working it's magick in the outer World.  It is you, my readers, who personally bring the Word of God into each and every thing within your daily lives and actions.  This is what many people do not understand about The Bible and about the power of the Word.  It's like the Never-ending Story, as you read it, you bring God's Word down into the world and it Will begin to arrange your Heart and Soul.  It's a relationship.  A dance of give and take.  Ebb and flow.

Quantum Physics

• Observers are powerful players in the quantum world. According to the theory, particles can be in several places or states at once—this is called a superposition. But oddly, this is only the case when they aren't observed. The second you observe a quantum system, it picks a specific location or state—breaking the superposition. The fact that nature behaves this way has been proven multiple times in the lab—for example, in the famous double slit experiment.
• In 1961, physicist Eugene Wigner proposed a provocative thought experiment. He questioned what would happen when applying quantum mechanics to an observer that is themselves being observed. Imagine that a friend of Wigner tosses a quantum coin—which is in a superposition of both heads and tails—inside a closed laboratory. Every time the friend tosses the coin, they observe a definite outcome. We can say that Wigner's friend establishes a fact: the result of the coin toss is definitely head or tail.
• Wigner doesn't have access to this fact from the outside, and according to quantum mechanics, must describe the friend and the coin to be in a superposition of all possible outcomes of the experiment. That's because they are "entangled"—spookily connected so that if you manipulate one you also manipulate the other. Wigner can now in principle verify this superposition using a so-called "interference experiment"—a type of quantum measurement that allows you to unravel the superposition of an entire system, confirming that two objects are entangled.
• This presents a conundrum. The reality perceived by the friend cannot be reconciled with the reality on the outside. Wigner originally didn't consider this much of a paradox, he argued it would be absurd to describe a conscious observer as a quantum object. However, he later departed from this view, and according to formal textbooks on quantum mechanics, the description is perfectly valid.
• This experiment therefore shows that, at least for local models of quantum mechanics, we need to rethink our notion of objectivity. The facts we experience in our macroscopic world appear to remain safe, but a major question arises over how existing interpretations of quantum mechanics can accommodate subjective facts.

"Let there Be Light."

Break me in don’t break me down
Swimming in these empty towns
I wonder if it’s all some master plan
Diving into sweeter bliss
Fallin’ before we miss
Taste the taste before it’s gone and you’re too late

Dipping out beyond the night
Reeling in the quieter times
Saving all the flavors of my mind
Reflecting on the lessons learned
The broken bonds and bridges burned
Take the taste of hate and throw it away

Won’t change what I am
To find who you are
Can’t stay in these lines
When I’m bursting at the seams
My body might collapse
If I carry one more dream
I could be anything

Quote

"I hear you everywhere."
A second string of events, following the story I'd written and posted on Christmas - this is the continuation of that.

I allowed the entirety of my True Self, my Soul to enter into me and with it All came the faint hints of who I was before and what I had done in my previous lives.  I remembered what it was like to fly, to swim, to move around on four paws, to Be a mother, a father, a plant, a busboy, an architect, a farmer, a butcher, an empath and a psychopath.  I remembered what it was like to die in poverty on the streets and what it was like to live into old age, surrounded by loving family members.  I remembered that each time, I was with a group just like me who started off as a simple "I Am" and gained self-awareness as our evolution progressed.  I remembered their Love, their joy, their support.  Sometimes we were lovers, sometimes we murdered one another, sometimes we were silent catalysts into the awakenings of one another.  I remembered their laughter.  Pure like a bell and innocent like a baby's first smile.  I pulled myself off of my lover and stood in front of him in the pool waters, "What do I do now?"  I asked him.

"We'll go to my home.  You Will stay there with me..."  He answered and stood up, grabbing a towel and drying me off.
"And what about everyone else that I Know?  Do I go back to them again?  I always have..."  I turned around and leaned close to him as he wrapped the towel around me before grabbing another one to dry himself.
"You are always connected to them.  You can visit them any time that you wish.  You are Free.  Do you Know what that means, Gigi?"  He set his towel down and handed me my white robe, I slid it around my body and watched him do the same.

"I think that Freedom is something that goes further than what I could dream of...I think... yes."  I nodded to myself.  Freedom was probably only the starting point, a simple Word with an allusion to an orientation with no destination that went in every way possible.  We stepped out of the pool together, up the steps and then back down over the wall that held the waters there.

"You are Freedom."  He explained.  "You Will train with me.  I Am a master of All things Good.  Peace, Freedom, Love, Goodwill - these are gateways and check points into the next process of your awareness as a divine creator.  You can visit them and you Will always Be connected to your family - but you are the first in your group to grow in this way and you posited a future from which All things benefit.  I want to teach you what this means with it's greatest potential in Mind.  You Will Be with me from now on if this is what you want."  As he spoke, I Felt a rush of imagery enter into my Mind's eye.  I saw cities made of Light, cradled in the nest of an electric forest.  I saw human souls learning to call out from their own voices landscapes, emotions and forms never before seen on Earth.  Things of such a divine quality that no language could do it justice.  I saw humans call out these forms from the intricacies of their own Hearts, finally getting to See what they were really made of.  "We Live and die as we Dream."  He spoke softly, taking my hand and leading me further down the path we had walked earlier.  I looked back, the sun of my soul continuing to rise over the fresh soil and calm waters, purple and pink fading away into a brilliant blue hue.

He walked with me hand in hand into a divine forest.  I Knew it to Be his garden.  I could sense that it was ancient, and I realized that with the fresh soil of my own Heart that I had really only just begun.  There were those before me who had been cultivating the design of their Hearts and souls for an immeasurably long period of time - for what you could call time in such a place.  Each movement felt preordained.  As though there was a multitude of different options presented, but that due to only the very best one ever Becoming - that this was the destiny - the prophecy - and that it was the only way forward.  I pondered on the various ways that the Many becomes the One as we silently made our way deeper into the lush garden.  There is no other way, and yet... there is every way.  Everything was in its right place and in perfect order, without a single leaf nor grass blade bent nor misshapen.  We followed a stream with crystal clear blue water.  The Stream of Consciousness that fed the whole land.  Each plant carried with it under the soil the perfect amount of nutrient and distributed everything fairly, from those growing at the banks to the very edge of the forest.  I thought of a well-oiled neural network or an intricate machine where each part functioned with the other parts perfectly in order to serve the greater whole.

When we got to the very center of his forest, there was a large clearing of grass and the narrow pathway led to a small wooden two-story a-frame cabin.  Growing out of the side of the cabin was a large tree with a thick trunk and leaves that sparkled in many different colours.  The lifeblood of the stream entered this tree, so the veins of the leaves carried this current and shone from the inside out.  I saw it as a living being.  His Heart.  The Heart of the forest.  "Always a home for you in my Heart."  He told me.  "Let's go inside."  He walked me to the door and unlocked it with a golden key that was procured out of "thin air".  I noticed that All the windows of the house had highly detailed stained glass designs on them and when we went inside his home, his belongings shone with the sunlight whispering through these windows and they took on many different colours and patterns.  On the right side of the doorway was a winding stairway that lead to the top of the cabin, of which contained a large bed, pillows, blankets, two nightstands on either side, a dresser, and a small closet.  At the head of the bed was a circular window with a stained glass motif in the shape of the very tree just outside of the cabin.  On the main floor, there was just the one room, as people in the afterlife did not need to eat or do anything else.  He mostly used the space for building little trinkets, reading and studying.  The room had an oversized forest-green coloured plush couch, a moss-green woven rug, and many filled bookshelves, a few desks and one table in the center of it that had some opened dog-eared books, art supplies, tools and some small, wind-up objects with some of their parts scattered about.  There was a chandelier in the center of the room that gave off a warm light and was adequate for the whole space.

He closed the door behind him and lead me up to the loft.  "I thought you might Be tired."  He told me.  "Souls have an adjustment period.  You Will eventually need little to no sleep."  I walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, swinging my feet, with toes barely touching the floor.  "You can eat.  You can drink.  It is made from Mind and Heart and Will Be returned to you in full, but you need neither."  He continued.  I watched him as he removed his robe and folded it up on a nightstand.  He opened my robe and leaned on me, putting his weight down over me until I rested snuggly in a sea of down-filled comforters.
I wrapped my legs around him and asked, "What should I call you...?"

He pulled my arms out of the robe so that the fabric sat just under us.  "Oh... you Know.  Whatever suits you."  I gave him a confused look.  In Life I had tried to come to understand and to bring some sort of solid structure to this masculine energy.  I never could in Life.  Perhaps one can't in Death, either.  "I Am that I Am.  The wind.  The waves.  The sky.  The sun.  Love.  Life.  A name doesn't hold within it anything that I Am, you See."  I took a deep look into his eyes, to See if maybe there was anything from my previous Life that could do justice to what I was faced with.  It couldn't.  I had spent most of my Life following fear and being dictated by Words of self-hatred and many things unkind and unfruitful - and he was not this.  He was... what I had found near the end of it All.  What was to Be if I were to follow the current of Love from start to finish.  And I did eventually catch on in time but the nature of True Love is so unfathomably expansive that you really can't contain it within anything.  I'd only just scratched the surface in Life.  And so he remained mostly a mystery to me... even now.  I thought of mysteries and secrets and fresh, ripe juicy fruits.  He took his tongue and playfully ran it along my collar bone, up to my neck, over my jawline, my cheek and across my eyelid.  I thought of puppies and kittens playing together.  One friendly and forthcoming and the other shy and affixed to things like prickly Velcro. 

I've been awake in every state line
Dyin' to make it last us a lifetime
Tryin' to shake that it's all on an incline
Find me a way, I'll be yours in a landslide

"Oh... Puppy!"  I cried out.  It was almost too much to take in, to Be resting within his Heart, in his home, in his bed, under him...  No more pain.  No more fear.  Just Freedom.  Just Love.  Forever.  The sun's aura shone through the glass window and the mirrored design of the tree was cast over both of our bodies.  He bit his lower lip and grinned at me from the corner of his eyes.  He loved the nickname.  He got up off the bed, dragged my body down to the edge of it and opened my legs.  I gave him a Good look and thought to myself, 'We're so pretty, wrapped up in the colours and the Light like this.  We're built so perfectly; I Feel like artwork...'  He entered me and I Felt my body give way to accommodate him.  A mound rose up in my abdomen and I could See the outline of him poking through from outside of my thin frame.  I reached down to rub it and 'whack-a-mole' crossed my mind.  I then covered my mouth with both hands, as if I'd spoken those words and turned away in embarrassment.  I rested my legs on his shoulders and shut my eyes, taking in the sensations of cosmic sex for the second time.  Every movement, as if I'd never before felt it.  Fresh and unconstrained energy from the Heart, the sacral point, dipping into every channel until it rushed out of my fingers and toes, my mouth still covered uttering a noise here and there.

He pulled out, pushed me up towards the head of the bed and back lay down on me.  I put my legs up high and wrapped them around his upper back and cradled his neck in my arms, clenching my outstretched hands together.  "Puppy..."  I whispered in his ear before pressing my forehead against his.  I focused on one eye and tried to absorb the essence of an incomprehensible, delicious, beautiful Other.  His Heart pressed into Mine, both energies danced with one another like a spiral galaxy, the magnetism of the two swirling into an infinite design that at it's central point represented Unity.

For a long time we stayed this way with gentle movements and sweet Words.  Images of unexplored worlds, poetry, and music painted themselves across a psychedelic landscape built from Pure, True, Uninhibited Love.  The waters flowed freely - intuition and intention carved themselves into the innermost crevasses of our Hearts and Minds.  Give and take.  Ebb and flow.  I felt to Be wrapped in a perpetual orgasm, body shaking and giving way.  A river digging into a canyon.  I felt a surge of warm water fill me up, his face colored with a look of ecstasy.  And then we were done.  He pulled himself off of me and cradled me into himself, staying awake as I fell asleep in his arms, our limbs tangled within one another.  We remained this way for a long time.  The first bit of rest my soul had gotten since my Death.  I had vibrant dreams, ones in which I planned what I would grow within my new garden, faces that I could carry within my outer expression.  In these dreams I took the form of a bodiless spark of Life that God gifts All his children.  In one of these visions two sparks of Life collided and in the wake of this a third one was born.  It had gravity within my womb.  Like a sun.  A star.  I awoke in that moment and felt a portion of the water merge into me.  A golden egg that I carried in my Heart in Life and brought downwards into my womb in Death.  I shifted to lay on my back and created with my fingers the symbol of a heart over where the third consciousness had just been created.  Miracle!  "You put a tiny star into my body!"  I cried out to him.  "I feel it!"

"A purified feminine and purified masculine are gifted the chance to make a new soul."  He responded, placing his hand on my stomach.  "Only from True Love can Life take root and flourish.  It Will stay within you until you understand in full the magick of these Words:  I Am that I Am.  This child Will rise up and out of your mouth and Will embark on it's own path towards understanding All that Is and it Will grow in the Light of Self Awareness.  Until you Know with your Heart and Mind the gravity of these Words, our child Will stay with us, inert.  These were God's first Words and All things great and small are born from this one understanding.  Things crash together and from it new things are born.  Do you remember me... when I was that wave?"  I nodded, astounded.  He was... a wave, an energy containing millions of lives, each one of them a point of Light - a candle on the surface of divine waters.  And we were... destined to crash into one another.  In Life, I jumped over it.  Fear.  In Death, I welcomed it into me.  Love.  Within me now.  Pregnant with God's Word to Be spoken aloud when the stars aligned and the right insight burst open.  I was patient for him.  I would Be patient for this, too.  
I wiggled my toes in excitement and thought to myself, 'We made a baby star out of Love, to Be born from Words!  So romantic... J'adore l'amour, my Puppy!'
He held me close to him as my body hummed and shivered from excitement.  "You like that, Gigi..."  He stated this as a fact and tickled the sides of my ribs.  I was in Love.  I was Love.  My person had come for me.  I was Free.  I was safe.  I was Home.  I was blessed.  I was a mother.  A partner.  A soul.  A spark.  I held my shaking hands up and clasped his face and brought it into Mine and just looked at him.  I didn't Know what else to say, or if Words could ever encapsulate the gratitude that I Felt in that moment... so I just stared and smiled.  I could See him within me, and me within him, and it went on and on... and would go on forever.  There was no ending in Sight to the blessings bestowed upon mankind.

God is Good.  Glory Be to the ones who dream.

Quote

We step out of our solar system
Into the universe
Seeking only peace and friendship
To teach if we are called upon
To be taught if we are fortunate
We know full well that our planet

I should like to extend the greetings
Of the government and the people
To the extraterrestrial habitants

Wherever you go, you go, we go too
Hello, from the children of the planet earth
Wherever you go, you go, we go too

So much drama, so much conflict, so much stress and so much fighting
So much badness, so much anger, too much war, it's all so frightening
On the radio, we can love

We'll save your soul

You go, we're with you
We go
We don't want to fall
Or build a wall
Answer the call
Like birds of prey
We chase the rain
Don't fly away
We'll make our way!

Words of love too constipated
Everyone so agitated
Thoughts of violence celebrated
Media hype, calibrated
All the proof, fabricated
Politicians, calculated
In the towers, insulated
Drug consumption, regulated
We got the power, paid by the hour
Make the folks cower, they can't devour
Hit you with bass right in the place
Smack in the face that you can embrace
One, two, three, four, open up those doors
On the dancefloor, that's where you get yours

The whole damn world's incinerating

Divine Child - Light Reborn

The divine child appears when least expected, new potential born from the womb of the unconscious. Helpless and blessed and against all reason, the divine child represents the creative union of opposites that births a new beginning. Every new beginning is a divine child, and mythological revelations since ancient times greet new psychic potential with awe and adoration. Miraculous birth signals initiation into individuation, and the preordained destiny of sacred and heroic figures across cultures and through time is also our own.

The lives of Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Heracles, Horus and Ganesha portray a Guiding Self sustaining them through the hard human work of growing toward wholeness. Jung says, “You open the gates of the soul to let the dark flood of chaos flow into your order and meaning. If you marry the ordered to the chaos you produce the divine child, the supreme meaning…” 

Child Archetypes

The Divine Child is closely related to both the Innocent and Magical Child, but is distinguished from them by its redemptive mission. It is associated with innocence, purity, and redemption, god-like qualities that suggest that the Child enjoys a special union with the Divine itself. Few people are inclined to choose the Divine Child as their dominant Child archetype, however, because they have difficulty acknowledging that they could live continually in divine innocence. And yet, divinity is also a reference point of your inner spirit that you can turn to when you are in a conscious process of choice. You may also assume that anything divine cannot have a shadow aspect, but that’s not realistic. The shadow of this archetype manifests as an inability to defend itself against negative forces. Even the mythic gods and most spiritual masters — including Jesus, who is the template of the Divine Child for the Christian tradition — simultaneously expressed anger and divine strength when confronting those who claimed to represent heaven while manifesting injustice, arrogance, or other negative qualities (think of Jesus’ wrath at the money-changers in the Temple). Assess your involvement with this archetype by asking whether you see life through the eyes of a benevolent, trusting God/Goddess, or whether you tend to respond initially with fear of being hurt or with a desire to hurt others first.

The Archetype of the Divine Child - The Light Reborn

Notes:

• In a season of short days and early darkness, we are going to center on the topic of the Divine child.  One way mythologically all over the world and in the Christmas season of the Western world, something new and numinous comes into the world.  
• There is the light celebration of Hannukah, solstice, something new where the light comes back into the world just at the time mythologically that the sun makes its great journey and our days get just a little longer.
• The mythology around the Divine child is similar around the world, this is moving to notice these themes and story after story across time and place.  There's truly something universal being spoken about, and being imaged.
• The opposites come together over and over again in the myth of the Divine child, from Ganesh to Moses to Jesus - the Divine child is always born into difficulty, persecutory situation in the case of Moses where Pharaoh was persecuting young Hebrew children and he gets placed in the basket in the bullrushes to be adopted by Pharaoh's daughter.  Ganesh's head gets chopped off and replaced with an elephant's head which represents a union of the instinctual and unconscious and the self, with a body and in the story of Jesus he is born in a manger because there was no room at the inn and again the persecutory myth comes in with children being persecuted who were under two years old and the fight to Egypt.  We could go on and on with other examples.
• Jung talks about this in reference to his really extraordinary essay on the psychology of the child archetype.  A brilliant essay and he lifts this up and says the motifs of insignificant exposure, abandonment, danger, etc. try to show how precarious is the psychic possibility of wholeness that is the enormous difficulties to be met with obtaining this highest good.  He is talking here about the Divine child archetype as an image of a potential wholeness in the psyche and these dangers are symbolic expressions of how difficult it is to undergo this process of individuation.
• Jung further says these dangers also signify the powerlessness and helplessness of the life urge which subjects every growing thing to the law of maximum self fulfillment while at the same time the environment influences place all sorts of obstacles in the way of individuation.
• We are all that Divine child trying to reach toward wholeness, against seemingly impossible odds.
• In all the myths of the Divine child, the child is a compensation to something that has gone awry, in the world, the world's psychic, the world political, Jesus constellates as born in order to resolve the original sin of Genesis and restore the Divine end of the material.  Krishna is born to save the world from this growing evil that threatens to destroy all life.  Dionysus seems to be born to save the Greek psyche from the overwhelming rationalism of that culture and regulation and so in our own psyches (some have dreams of having a baby and one is in charge of this baby and one doesn't know how it happened much like Mary's shock) and there is a decision of what does this mean, how am I going to care?  But if we look at the archetype, how is the dream baby a medicine?  The needed, miraculous appearance in order to write something in the inner world?
• The child can also be an image of the transcendent function.  Jung says this function is the irrational way that a seemingly insoluble problem can be resolved when we hold the opposites.  The child is born from the opposites of male and female and in our psyche when there is a conflict that can't be solved with a rational function sometimes the answer is birthed spontaneously from the unconscious as a child, and that's the way it is imaged.  This is common in dreams.
• Dream babies: The literal baby and how we often receive the news of something new gestating in the psyche, whether a dream baby or anything else, with degrees of ambivalence.  In the Christian story the angel says, "Greeting favored one, the Lord is with you."  She was perplexed by his words and pondered what this greeting might be.  And then he tells her not to be afraid, she found favor and now she will conceive in her room and have a son named Jesus who will be great and will be the sun of the most high with no end to his Kingdom.  Mary is confused.  She isn't sure about it.  The angel tells her that nothing will be impossible with God and finally Mary says that she is the servant of the Lord and to let it be according to her word, but the news of the new thing is not always just unambivalently welcome.  That often comes up in paintings of the enunciation.  There are some where Mary looks horrified.  
• That's part of what makes it so special and so numinous is that it calls us into a confrontation with ourselves and the inner conflict that the birth of something new entails.
• There are dreams where people learn they are pregnant in the dream and they are confused.  This can happen to women who have never had children, to women who have had lots of children, to men, men having these dreams, too.  And often it is so common for people to have dreams where they suddenly have a baby.  Often times one of the features of these dreams is that the baby is in danger, or ill, or isn't doing well, and the dream ego has to figure out how to take care of it or realizes that they are not caring for it well.  
• It is a sense that there's this new psychic content and how are we relating to it and what are our feelings about it?  When the inner baby has a certain numinosity about it there can be a threat.  Murder of the innocence was born of the terror that something greater than himself had hit the scene and was a threat to depose him, so when we dream of having a baby in our arms, we can get the feeling that they are not in charge of life and something is being brought forth, liked or not, and we must find a way to welcome it, the path to change can be celebrated and many times people ambivalently tread the path.
• One of the things that is true about a child is that in most instances a child will outlive us.  A child will surpass us, so in a dream sense, symbolically it is an image of something that will overcome the ego.
• Jung talks in a passage about the futurity of the child archetype.  One of the essential features of the child motif it it's futurity.  The child is potential future.  Hence the occurrence of the child motif in the psychology of the individual signifies as a rule an anticipation of future developments even thought at first sight it may seem like a retrospective configuration.  Life is a flux, a flowing into the future and not a stoppage or backwash.  It is therefore not surprising that so many of the mythological saviors are child Gods.  This agrees exactly with our experience of the psychology of the individual which shows that the child paves the way for future change of personality.
• When we talk about change of personality, it sounds very tidy.  And when we think about a New Year's resolution which is often happening right around the solstice and is imaged by a baby.  Trying to change the personality, let alone experiencing a substantial change of personality, it can bring out a little bit of tumult.  
• The road to fulfillment, to self realization or individuation is fraught with dangers.  The baby is small, vulnerable, weak, helpless, and is often either persecuted or abandoned or exposed to the elements, but at the same time Divinely powerful.  There is a road ahead, psyche is going somewhere, but our conscious selves and our vulnerable selves, shadows - we will have to walk the walk and the path is difficult.  
• When someone comes in with a dream of a baby and perhaps it is a vulnerable baby and you leave the baby somewhere - what's the new attitude, the new content that you are not tending to very well?  Might be one way to explore that, but the other thing that comes up with children in dreams is the link to the past.  Which is also something that Jung talks about.  If someone dreams of having a three year old child you might question what happened three years ago/born in you?  And that can often be a really illuminating question.  Another question is to ask what you were like at three.  The child connects us with a past and the child motif represents the preconscious childhood aspect of the collective psyche.
• The child is an image of our original wholeness and can serve to reconnect us with this.  Often as we grow up we forget aspects of ourselves, we cut things off that may be an essential aspect and the image of the child as it shows in dreams and mythology is a reminder of this.
• It can be a symbol that acts as a compensatory element in the psyche to an overdeveloped consciousness -  that we get caught up with our daily lives and what we need to do - the numinosity of the preconscious wholeness is represented by a baby.  Where do I go back to my essential roots?  Back to a new beginning that's not entirely ego oriented or has to do with conscious planning
• Jung writes that religious observances, the retelling and ritual repetition of the mythical event consequently serve the purpose of binging the image of childhood and everything connected with it again and again before the eyes of the conscious mind so that the link with the original condition may not be broken.
• When you dream of inner infants, one of the things to resist is determining what the baby means.  The inner baby, just like an outer baby requires a long term sustained curiosity and patience.  When a baby arrives we may become aware of our fantasies of what we hope the baby will be, but actually only observing the baby and tending to it can allow us to recognize what is being revealed.  The baby requires a lot of observation.  Make a note in a calendar to return to such dreams and visions, so that it doesn't disappear. 
• A baby is full of meaning and potential without imposing on what that potential is.  The image of tending.  Helping it.  Whatever that creative potential is, helping it to realize itself is vital.
• The myth of Dionysus was profoundly influential and for the Greeks a religious reality.  The most powerful cult of Dionysus was called the Orphic cult and there was a mix of different Gods.  In their telling of the myth, Persephone who is Zeus's daughter was spirited away by her mother into a cave.  Zeus was drawn by Persephone's beauty and fertility, comes to her in the form of a serpent and impregnates her.  She gives birth to the Orphic version of Dionysus.  Hera is full of rage, as she often was when Zeus would father progenies outside of the marriage.  She sends the titans, the ancient primordial Gods against Dionysus and tasks them with killing him.  The titans set up a small campfire near the cave opening and when Dionysus goes to play, they role a single ball in his direction and intrigued by that he takes the ball, rolls it back to them and trundles after it.  The titans were the size of mountains, grabbed the toddler and teared him up and began to eat him.  The heart of the child has been cast aside as inedible.  Athena has been watching and creeps around through the bushes, taking the heart of the child into a basket and bringing it back to Zeus who slits an opening in his thigh and tucks the heart in there, sews it up and allows it to gestate there for another birth.  He is so enraged by the titans that he gathers his lightening bolts and strikes them dead, a steam rises from them and they are turned to ash and from that ash, Zeus forms the first human beings who are an amalgam of the instinctive primordial violence of the titans and the divine child Dionysus.  Dionysus gestates in the thigh and is born, protected and kept safe as he moves into the world, Hera still peruses him and strikes him down with madness.  Wandering through the ancient world, destroying cities in a wild drunken violence, his grandmother finally calls him into her cave, the place where he was first born and initiates him into the Eleusinian mysteries of death and rebirth.  The mysteries of Persephone and the underworld and when he emerges, he wears women's clothing, having been initiated into women's mysteries.  His sanity is returned and in the ancient world, every spring with the first blades of grass that would rise, the birth of Dionysus, the life force of this child was seen literally and figuratively in the rising of the grass.  The divine child here is the God of irrationality.  
• He is the God who can tolerate being dismembered, tortured, set against unbelievable odds and yet some central archetypal core in the Divine child in it's heart allows the personality to regenerate again and again.  The heart of the Divine child is the archetype of the Divine child.  When we have accessed that archetype, that force, that we too are able to survive unimaginably dismembering sufferings, both psychologically and physically and circumstantially, and regenerate a personality that is in fact intact.
• It is a story of the evolving interactions, conflicts, challenges of unconscious and consciousness and the inherent urge of the heart, our Divine center, to realize itself against all odds.
• It is a sobering story about the titanic forces in our own psyche and in the culture that when our inner baby is born or an organic idea, because human beings are part titan in that myth, we are always standing against the savage dismembering power that is brought forward by envy.  That wants to shred the emerging inside of us and sometimes to shred and dismember the emergent newborn ideas of other people - this urge to keep it small, to not let the new thing grow.
• Sometimes the titans win, and we really do destroy our life mission.  Or destroy an unbelievably life giving idea inside of us.  We all murder our psychic children at one time or another.
• There is a shadow here.  Archetypes have a light and a darker side.  In the myth of Dionysus, there is again and again these deaths of Dionysus and his ability to resurrect, to persevere and that is our task that we do fall, there are these deaths of our inner potentials or divine children and hopefully we can stay on the road and become more whole.
• The heart of the Divine child, the idea that wants to be born through you requires help, if a thing had just not been there, the heart had truly just been discarded, it's hard to know what might have happened.
• The other battle that we experience is the titanic dismembering power of the rational.  Of the ego, versus the life-giving irrational intuitive spiritual input from the unconscious.  Analysis is always involving standing before the titans and negotiating, pushing back.  Products of the irrational life are regularly attacked in this culture.
• It is important that there be others often imaged as other people or Gods - in the Christian story it is the shepherds and the wise men - as functions of the inner self as those who come to adore the newborn baby - that part of it is also important.
• As Christ was being crucified and as his body was cast down from the cross, who gathered the heart?  Who took it under herself?  The two Mary's that were there and the image of the Magdalene like the image of Athena and the basket, cradling this thing that neither of them are sure could come back to life, or what is going to be done with the residue after the death, but they store it in a container and it is tended, waiting for a miraculous birth.  How do we need to do that for ourselves and for each other?  What do we need to tend?
• The experience of having life come through you into the world literally, and then the experience of child birth or having that baby, this same thing can be constellated and for most women who experience this.  When we have an infant it is hard not to stare at it.  Even as children age, we can project Divine child onto our children.  That can be a really wonderful thing but it can have a shadow element as well.
• One of the ways this is seen is when a young person becomes sexual, and often the image of your child as the Divine child feel really incongruent in the caregivers.
• The tendency or the potential danger is when parents project their own unlived lives, hopes, unfulfillments, aspirations onto a child who is then an extension of the parent, versus helping that child come into being as his or hers unique self.
• People project archetypal content on the child, which would be to see the child literally infused with Divine aspects.  This happens for parents where they see the child as extremely special and this is supported in the culture with the notion of indigo children - children that are meant for a special destiny - overvalue the child, and that can cultivate narcissism in the child.
• Narcissistic character structures can have a Divine child component to it, it can have a titanic demanding, devouring element to it, it can carry that and other values, but when adults who are still over identified with the Divine child, they walk around in an alluring euphoria, that the world is endlessly amazing and splendid and extraordinary, and as we listen that all the events always circle around them.  The event is initiated by them.  They feel sure that they are sunlight as they move through - and then there is a devaluation or dismissing of things that are not congruent with the idea that they are a "gift" to all.  An ethereal component that doesn't feel like the person is grounded in an embodied way, in the ordinariness of life and has not developed a muscularity to have agency in the world and have some of the nitty gritty stuff of humanity.  "Big baby syndrome".  A weakling aspect to this.  That a person cannot be effective, powerful and get their hands dirty or their feet wet in the real world because of this identification with something ethereal.  Divine, but a really artificial aspect, or interpretation of "specialness" that is not truly divine.
• Instead of a renewal of soul, it inhabits the ego, it merges with the ego and then the levels are confused.  So we can move through and imaginal world and feel that we are full of light and that is important, but when we try to force the environment to reflect that, or to carry that into the world, it becomes complicated.  
• An interesting thing that happens around the Divine child is if people come into a lot of money, they talk about fantasies and many of these sound like the Divine child.  As the fantasy unfolds, literally they imagine living on an amazing couch - people will tuck bits of food in their mouth and rub their feet, which is like being tended to as a baby.  Many people in the back are thinking that sounds like a good life, and it is very seductive.
• In contrast to this kind of fantasy and there are people who can live this, the Divine child is really meant to initiate the individuation process.  That is a struggle.  We see it in the mythological material referenced above.  What we want to become as whole human beings and be in service to the Divine.  Not be identified with it, but have a meaning and a purpose where something meaningful can come into the world through us, for the future of other people who will follow along, just by virtue of our presence and influence on them.  You don't have to be a genius, just do your best to become whole.  
• The Divine comes into the world through us, we are not it.
• The religions that sprung up around Krishna, one of his teaching is Karma yoga, in the pre-Krishna world, the cast system is rigid, you are born into a higher spiritual opportunity or through mistakes, born into bad circumstances, but Krishna brought forward as an avatar of Vishnu that all people could achieve enlightenment and what they would have to practice and understand is that every action is dedicated to Krishna, the result of every action comes from Krishna.  The impulse to initiate anything comes from Krishna, and so by seeing the face of the Divine in the impulse, in the action and in the results, good or bad, is the face of the Divine and the ego is in a state of constant reference to the self without feeling that one is inflated.
• Being in right relationship with this archetypal energy is grounding but also expansive.  But if we overidentify with it too much as ourselves, it can get us into trouble and be stultifying. 
• Part of the reason motherhood is a growth opportunity is because of this archetype gets awakened in the process of mothering.  It puts you in touch of the thin veil of the worlds when you give birth, opens you up to these enormous archetypal energies, you have just played the role of creator and in that sense being Goddess-like.  You have given birth to new life, which is an amazing thing, and all of this gets activated in the psyche of a woman who becomes a mother, and kind of seeds the ground with these enormous potentials for personal growth and deepening into this.
• Birth is an amazing experience.  The birth of Jesus: no matter the circumstance, how difficult or unexpected or anything else, that in that moment there is the realization that this is the Divine child.  My child is Divine.
• The time came for Mary to deliver her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.  In that region there were shepherds living in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night then an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified but the angel said to them to not be afraid for they are being brought good news of great joy for all the people to you who has born this day in the city of David a savior who is the messiah and the Lord this will be a sign for you, you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God and the highest heaven and on Earth peace among those whom he favors."  When the angels had left them and gone into heaven the shepherds said to one another let us go to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place which the Lord has made known to us  So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger, when they saw this they made known where they had been and told them about this child and all who heard it were amazed and what they were told, but Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
• This is the arrival of what is new, blessed and what has been given, a beginning for the potential that all of us have to become what we were meant to be.

Some ponderings on how to display and work with this archetype:  First and foremost, it is one of new beginnings, to bring forth and nurture creative potential.  To become whole, to utilize this is to merge opposing perspectives.  To use this in the wrong way is to take up a role of "specialness", to fall into an ungrounded state and not to move forward - to not use this potential to make something new for the rest of the world.  This is an archetype that should unify, not bolster the ego.  Do not become a "big baby", essentially.  Identify with the energy running through it, such as the Holy Ghost, but do not plaster or identify with the imagery that it represents as this is only a hollow representation of the True thing.  While I work with this authentically, I could See that if it were not necessary, if I did not have access to what backsliding is like, that I could easily just play within the imagery forever as I have done so in the past.  Paint how you want it to Be, but Be fluid and let it Speak through you.  Give and take, back and forth, yin and yang.

To remain on the right track:  You are here because of your foolishness, not your wisdom.  And your human body is dying.  You claim borrowed time.

Releasing the separate self

Notes:

• You can hold onto relationships you are not happy and passionate about.  There can be a terror in letting go of it.  That is based on inertia, because if they met the person today they would not date them.  The past is in the way of the current decisions.
• This is trying to keep a separate self alive, by keeping a relationship with this person.  If you can go into a relationship that would expand you into your soul and feels like something that you need for your soul's growth that would be different.
• A couple weeks ago they decided to let go of the person, and they spent time not calling the person and working on themselves and creating the space and noticing that if they felt emotionally connected that they wouldn't do this.  They would feel but would not react to it.  
• They felt and heard more what they themselves felt because the desire to be understood blocked the ability for them to hear what they needed.  They heard what was inside.  What they felt.  And when they heard themselves, they said they felt like this pattern that was the small self dissolved out of them and they started seeing all of the world as all connected to them.
• You should connect to all people and not just view one person as yours.  To do this is to keep your patterns.  Twin flame delusions and so forth.
• A small separate self is being kept alive by a relationship.  A self that doesn't really exist is being kept alive.  When they let go of the person and spend a little time focusing on themselves they can integrate this separate self.
• You can protect your children and let go of stuck attachment, and find real love with yourself and teach them this as well.  Be present.  if you are feeling guilt, sadness, fear in letting go and that is stopping you from letting go, you are strengthening its power.  Let go of guilt.  Don't let it be in charge of you, let your soul be in charge.
• The universe does nothing about what you want it only understands based on what you do.  So when people wait for a new thing to show up, but don't do anything to change or to make room for it, nothing will improve.  The universe will blow your mind if you follow what it is saying.
• Shame, guilt, fear - that's not the universe.  That is your small childhood self.  You are in between the universe calling you, the higher you calling, the next step, the true you and a pattern that goes, "If I do, then the same thing that happened in the past will happen again."  
• And so its invisible fear that is arbitrary and is not something that is happening now is up against your highest calling and the universe gives you this as a mirror in a number of ways, including in the rest of the world - the truth will come through if you clear out all the old stuff.
• The world will move around what you are doing.  Are you keeping all this stuff in your life that is not good?  Cutting yourself off from the real you?  The universe sees itself through you.  The universe seeing you becomes louder.  The world mirrors this.
• Holding onto things out of fear or guilt is different than a calling to expand with something.

  

You must go where I cannot,
Pangur Ban 'Pangur Ban',
There is nothing in this life but mist,
And we will only be alive,
for a short time.

This song from The Book of Kells, "Aisling's Song" happened to Be one of the first times that I gleaned into the nature of my soul.  This was back in 2019 when I first discovered this insight and held it close to me, along with a few others from before and after.  Some songs, some revelations, some artwork - that over time have strung into a more personally comprehensive cosmology.  The video had a cat in it that stole away a key in order to free a young boy.  When I saw this, I came back to this forum that I frequent and chose the name "Keyhole", to remind me that putting yourself together is like gathering puzzle pieces or keys that must be sorted and unlocked.  Hearing the song, coupled with an image that I no longer have saved, it was of a shiny circular Light fractal on a black background.  I realized that the human soul is like a small child, singing into it the design of its own reality.  "You must go where I cannot."  So we are given bodies.  The three pictures above show how this process might look.  I felt it to Be the bones of my existence, singing more Light into dark places - it felt lonely, mysterious - an echo into a long corridor.  I learned then, and expanded upon it later, that the Word and Song is what gives things form in this reality.  I think, I Feel that this is how the garden is built.  Another insight bled in.  A shaman is one who Sees in the dark.  In the blackness of my Mind's eye, I could See a thin sliver of Light and I was "activated".  A picture of trees All interconnected under the moon's Light and a thought on the howling of wolves into the underside of the fabric of reality struck me.  The underside is full of threads and connections and the picture isn't really seen until you turn it around.  I looked around the room that I was in and could See the "story" of my Life Being constructed on the spot.

Before that, a song by Galantis called "You" woke me up for the first time.  It was a call from the center of my Heart, just a bit behind it and it felt like a stirring living force.  I learned that my soul had a higher aspect to it that oversaw many smaller soul "strings" and that it planted them into the Earth to bring them up and harvest what they had learned for themselves.  She was sweet, and soft and I was reminded of purple and pink hues and of bumping into a leviathan in the middle of the ocean.  With this first contact came the experience of wanting to Be a mother - something that doesn't often appear in my Life as I have never had the selflessness nor the mental/emotional ability to view myself as worthy of bringing another human into this world, to do right by them.  Due to child abuse, I have this over-sensitivity to not wanting to harm a child or have them remember me as someone who later impresses upon them a permanent injury in the way they view the world.  But in that moment, I thought I could do it.  It might have been the mania.  Many of these accounts that I Speak about are coupled with a mania that I don't think most neurotypicals can maintain.  An ecstasy.  I bought some books on pregnancy and raising children and flipped through them, but the desire didn't last for longer than a few weeks.  Looking back on it now I wonder if it simply touched upon the desire to being something new and Good into the world.  Around that time I began to expand upon my values.

In 2018, the second time my soul called - I had been doing a drawing to bring myself forward.  A drawing without anything planned.  It came forward and the lyrics within the music represented the intention it wished to share with me.  "I could Be anything."  While playing a song by the Slenderbodies called "Amnesia", a story that is too long and winds away from the purpose of this post was downloaded into my mind within a few seconds.  It fell in line with the art.  "Won't change who I Am to find who you are."  The motto of any Good Heart that wishes to maintain it's authenticity.  I learned that it is also a dance, to Be sure not to cover over one's soul with what you desire, but to work with it to uncover what could Be and allow that potentiality room to breathe.  

To hear Truth within music is called "clairaudiency".

This white haired girl represents purity.  Like a dove or a lamb.  An observer untouched by worldly sin.  My soul, safe and secure in where she should Be.  Occasionally this woman comes to me enshrouded in allegory or at the tip of a vision.  "Hello."  She says.  This 'Gigi'.  This 'Gigi', as mentioned before, is an atmosphere, stripped bare of human form.  The sun sets outside the livingroom window and gives me colours that are so rich in red, orange, pink and blue.  Life is so beautiful, when you can step outside of the hectic rat race and See it from above.  I Feel... moved.  We picked up the cats from the vet today and there were more signs All around me, ones of Love and caring from the divine.  The orange deepens.  Rising phoenix of my Heart, I adore you.  I Am so grateful to Be alive.  Times like these, and on pondering in the car earlier - what do we take for granted every day?  Why does the magick elude us?  On this night, it hits me in the face.

The song below this one - "I get you" - gave her to me as well.  And that... no one else really needs to understand me.  I Am understood by my own soul.  And it Knows why I collect these experiences, to finally understand, "Who Am I?", "Why Am I here?"  With this song, I felt to Be moving on an amusement ride, moving towards a singularity made of extremely brilliant and living colours.  I kept thinking to myself, "Miracle, miracle, miracle."

To build on the face I would like to carry into the next world - if this is allowed, and with Faith - I would like to Be a very pale almost white girl, taking on the outward appearance of 17 to 18.  Age doesn't really exist in the afterlife in the way we view it here.  Small, maybe 4'11", very slender but beautifully curved, like a marble statue with skin that almost glows in the moonlight.  Little features, tiny hands and feet.  Blue eyes and lips coloured like cherries.  My own face.  I borrow from the beauty of things that Feel close, but at the end of the day, they are their own and I do not claim them beyond being mere representations.  As I Will Be my own...  Graceful.  A dancer, a singer, an artist - Free and healed, whole.  Gentle, empathetic and calm.  Playful, humorous, an agent of Life who Knows both sides of the coin.  Snow White.  Porcelain doll.  And of my partner, you Know... I have no clue.  Any time I put an image to it or even try to liken him to some imaginal human form, it falls apart... but if I focus on All of the stars in the sky, reflected in luminous mirrored waters and things like this - they lend towards the implicit Knowledge of Good things and bad things of balance and a greater design; I can Feel him in that and I Am placated from my worldly fears.  So I keep him as just this.  An atmosphere, and he should design from his own Will how he wishes to approach - to paint his face in the colours of his True nature.  

I hope, I hope that I Am moving towards giving some form of glory to God.  It Feels that... if I give to the world... and then... I Am given some things to work with for myself.  And I do Feel my Heart opening and I Feel more often than I used to a sense of gratitude for the Life given to me.  I have Faith.  This energy is shifting.

Hello Hello
I took my time in preparation
Studied hard
For this long distance conversation
But when I get on you the phone
All the courage in the world has left me

Heart don't fake my head
We're a little bit older now
I feel it all the time
Burnt out fires we made
Filled our heads with smoke
There's clouds left in my mind

I, collected pieces of the puzzle
That you, tried to hide
They, don't see what I see
When they see you
But I do, I do

Pause that face you make
Tilt your head, look up
These stars made for our eyes
All around, up above and beneath us
Take my hand walk through the night

And you make me wanna be better than I ever been before
Tell me a secret I'll keep it forever
I'm beggin' for more
I see the shadow behind you but baby it follows us all
And it's okay 'cause I

I get you
I can see you
Call on me, I will be there
They see you, drifting away
But I get you
I get you

"You reap what you sew."

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How do I push Truth from my Head to my Heart?

Notes:

• Push past discouragement to get God's Truth into our head.  Remember.  Meditate, muse upon the deeds and wonders of God in history.  Why?  Because the central Biblical strategy to escape the discouragements of life is through a conscious effort of the mind.
• Even when life hurts the most we discipline ourselves to get Truth into our minds and once it's there in our heads we need to get that Truth down into our hearts.
• There are more obstacles to joy than absence of knowledge.  There are physical obstacles.  There are medical reasons.  There are family reasons.  There are hereditary reasons.
• Dealing with melancholy; depression - these old puritans knew two things:  They knew their souls and they knew their Bibles.  The souls that they knew they knew were connected to bodies and they knew these bodies were connected to the material world.  They had practical guidelines for how to eat, sleep exercise, etc.  In order to avoid melancholy.  These matters are more complex than this. 
• To have Bible knowledge about God and it is not working question yourself, when you say you have your head filled with doctrine, is that the same as what's being said here, "I will remember the deeds of all, and meditate and will muse."  
• You can be passive about your emotions.  You can be taught to think that someone did this to you, but it's happening "to me" and now... what?  There's this absence of the great old Biblical awareness, a strategy of life, a war to be fought, a delight to be struggled for here, and intentionality and a purpose and if you have a little mustard seed left under the weight of darkness to do something there are things that can be done here that might be blessed of God.
• What is meditation?  What is musing?  This is something different than hoarding knowledge.  You must remember something within yourself and pursue it until you find it.
• Remember the deeds of the Lord.  Call Jesus to mind.  Two thieves on either side of Jesus on the cross, one of the thieves asks Jesus to remember him when he returns to his Kingdom.  Where did that come from?  A moment ago he was cursing the Lord.  He remembered the work of Grace.  And so he said, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
• Take hold of that sentence until it blesses you.  Today you, thief, with nothing to commend yourself to God, you're going straight to paradise.  This is the nature of True Grace.

Embracing the bittersweet - turning sorrow into Love

Notes:

• Appreciation of what is bittersweet is a universal human quality, and yet some of us have a bittersweet disposition.  
• What was found is that people who score high on this scale have a strong correlation for scoring high on the scale of high sensitivity.
• Sorrow and longing make us whole.  Sad music can help to process this.  Some can be drawn to this deep yearning.  What is it in our culture that makes it seem so funny to listen to this kind of music?  What is the music saying?  Why do so many of us love this bittersweet emotion?
• There is a deep bittersweet tradition that has existed for centuries all across the world, in every wisdom tradition that tells us that there is this place where joy and sorrow meet this is the truth of being human, and it's not that we love sorrow, but there is something about acknowledging that joy and the sorrow together that connects us with all the other humans who experience life this way and it is also a root to creativity and even to transcendence.   This is what we feel when we hear this music, a hint of transcendence that exists.  Music is an easy way to identify it but you realize that it's not only in the music, it is everywhere.
• Rumi, the 12th century Sufi poet has become a best selling poet has a taste of bittersweet.  One of the hearts of what he taught and wrote about was the idea that longing for the divine, the sorrow for it's absence that paradoxically brings you closer to that for which you seek.  The longing itself is the return message that we are looking for.
• People who react intensely to everything in the world, the good and bad, you feel the beauty of the sunsets more intensely, you hear the grinding noise more intensely, so these are sensitive people and that tends to go along with bittersweetness, 20 percent of the population, but then there are a lot of people who come to this bittersweet way of being through traveling through life and experiencing the joys and the sorrows.  Their eyes open to the nature of human reality.
• If you look at positive psychology over the last 20-30 years, the field in general became mainstream in the era of Freud at a time when it was all about the negative.  About the illnesses that a human mind could withstand and what could we do about them?  Then along comes positive psychology and it says that we have been focusing too much on the negative, and we should be thinking about what makes a human being thrive, flourish and so the field of positive psychology for a while was all about optimism, gratitude, almost unseemly to talk about the negative.  Now we are at this moment people call positive psychology 2.0.  They are saying no, there has always been this dialectic, a push-pull between that which brings joy or sorrow and we need them both this is who human beings are and we are recognizing this.  We don't have the language for this, this makes it hard to talk about.
• People with a high bittersweet disposition notice a pressure in our culture to be positive in a way that feels inauthentic.  
• This is culturally specific, psychologists have compared cultures to track this.  There are many cultures where people regard smiling as a sign of foolishness or as a sign of insincerity.  There are cultures that have that disposition, and in American culture what happened is that during the 19th century as we became more focused on how to become a business success out in the world it became important to distinguish ourselves as winners and not as losers and so people wanted to take on the attributes of somebody who was going to become a winner and that meant not taking on the emotional attributes that had anything to do with loss.  It became out of fashion for people to comment on bad weather outside because it focused on the negative and we are still living with that heritage.  
• This way of being - bittersweet - is linked with creativity because there is something in the noticing of the gap between what is and what could be/wish, there is something in that gap that stimulates us creatively and you can see this in studies on creativity.
• The word longing itself - we think of that as being mired - a negative state, a quicksand, but the word literally means "to grow longer" and to reach for - so it is very possible to be a visionary leader who is reaching for the stars.  That person is noticing what is missing.

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So... my question is, how do I deal with my own inner emotions of fear?  The ego comes back up and I fall into the trap of having a sticky Mind again instead of a Loving and free flowing one.  What does that say about my conviction if something so arbitrary is able to pull me away from my path?  How do I respond?  If at All?  I Am back on the right course.  Nothing comes before this.  But sometimes I lose the greater picture and become "triggered".  I won't quit.  You have my Word on that.  What do you do if you're the lone sheep in the herd, taking an entirely different path from those around you?  What do you do when All you're doing is working the process and people around you want to dictate what your own Soul should Be doing?  As I write this currently it is a day later from the initial trigger, but due to posting these entries a week or two after I start them and not moving in a linear writing format, forgiveness Will have taken place and I Will Be onto the next thing; there's a lag.  As of right now, I seek answers into maintaining my budding Goodness.  Still a process... like growing a garden you tend to the Earth, the soil and seed.  You don't just magically have a forest without growing it first.  I've let it go as far as feeling anything negative.  But... for the future I would like to Be prepared on how to manage this with less reaction.  And then again, even less, until both flattery and malcontent do not sway me.  I fall into both of these traps.  People's Words have such an impact, but it should really only Be you, My Lord, who gets the final say.  My upset is often stronger than the first punch.  It goes to show just how sensitive I can Be, and how much another's impression of me is still something I value.  I still wish to bring Love into such moments, but I find myself falling for the bait.  That of course is my own doing, no one can force you to react.  I would like to maintain my integrity in All situations.  And I view such moments as tests, of which I can save for later to learn from when I Am peaceful and Aware.  

I suppose to summarize: of which I write to lay to rest more than anything else the discordance within that comes from upset towards expansion - I seek to just Be "okay" with these things and with Being met with disbelief in who I Am... when I Am not even trying to Be anything more than who I Am.  And I don't try to go too far with it, I follow the natural progression of the unfolding of this Soul as it gives way like feeling for the soft spots in a tough barrier to pull myself through.  I do Know that there is still so much more to learn and I wouldn't want to make the assumption that I Know what I don't, as to do so would actually damage the magick.  I don't want to Be "in" anything in a way which corrodes my current.  I'm not prideful - I Know very well that this is a dance, one of give and take.  I just don't want to Be put in a box and to Be expected to grow and flourish from within another person's expectations.  I don't want bad blood between me and other people within this community.  I just want to share my process and live my Life and that's it.  I don't have any motives other than that.  I'm married to my spiritual work.

"Forgive them, for they Know not what they do.  Forgive me, for I Know not what I do."

What have I learned from this moving forward?  I need to focus on: Sensitivity to other's opinions, Being okay with being disliked, Not reacting to triggers and continuing to understand and Be aware of abandonment triggers as well.

Try to See how people who get into your process have their own stuff going on: See how their interpretations are often wrong or reductionist and remember what it was like when you had the same mentality and See where you still might.  Accept that this is what Will happen from here on out, and don't react to it anymore as it's a glance away from where you want to Be.  You Know who you are, you don't need anyone else to really Know this - what you bring at the end of the line is of utmost importance for you - stay on task - no deviations, but also: "Let it Be".

"You will lose the small things but win the big ones."
"Stop focusing on what you are missing."
"Be an outsider."
The significance of thistles

"Satan's Influencers" - The Devil wants to use them to make you quit

Notes:

• Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company, for their hearts plot violence and their lips talk about making trouble.  Don't let sinners influence you.
• The difference between a sinner and a saint:  A sinner only lives to gratify their carnal nature, a saint, even though they are far from perfect and flawless, doesn't live to gratify their sinful nature, a saint lives to give honor and glory to the Lord.
• The Devil wants to take you away from the path of God, but don't do it as God has blessings for your life.
• When it comes to growing in the faith and knowledge of Jesus, we have to be very careful with who we let influence us.  Look at the big difference between a sinner and a saint.  A sinner pleases themselves, a saint glorifies God every day.
• Have you ever heard the phrase, "Bird of a feather flock together?"  If you want to get trained in basketball you are not going to go to someone who trains people in tennis.  You go to people who can train you in the sport you want to grow in.  You are going to get around somebody who's gunna make you better.
• What type of influence is someone going to have over your life if all they want to do is just gratify and please their carnal nature?  What benefit is that going to be to your Christian walk?
• You have to be careful with who you let influence you when it comes to your life because you want to give honor and glory to God but if you get around bad company that bad company ruins good morals, because at one point you are going to want to give glory, to live a life that pleases the Lord but if you hang around bad company, sooner or later that fire that you have inside of you is going to begin to dwindle and then your mentality is going to change because you are hanging around bad company, and a person who used to want to give honor and glory, but because they have been influenced by a sinner - somebody who only wants to gratify themselves - that saint started to become influenced, now that person that used to want to give glory is now giving glory is not so important - so be careful in your walk.
• People who are recently saved, people are not going to agree with them.  Now that your mindset has changed, and is not the same as others, people are going to get angry because you don't agree with them.
• For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans chose to do, you've already lived that sinful lifestyle and used to be a sinner, spent enough time like that, living in immorality, lust, drunkenness, wild living, they are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless living and they heap abuse on you.  People are going to get upset at you when you no longer do what you used to do, when they see your mentality is different.  They will get confused and will insult you.  Because you say you don't want to do that, that's gunna offend them and because they feel offended that they think you are "more holy" - don't listen to those words.  They are aimed at your heart to distract you.  To discourage you.  It's not because you are more holy or because you are better, no it is because now you are trying to live to give honor and glory to God, our mentality has changed.
• When someone is training for the Olympics, if someone invites him out, he continues to train.  If someone has a championship fight and you invite them to a party, they will decline.  Children of God should be able to stand firm and say no, I don't do those things anymore, my life doesn't belong to gratify my sinful nature.
• The Children of Israel have come out of Egypt from their slavery, that God has taken them to the promised land, they get to the gates of the promised land, the Bible says Moses sent 12 men to scout the land, the men say in there 40 days and after they return and look what they tell the people.  God was going to bless them, but the men come back and discourage the people.
• Do you know why you come across opposition?  Why people discourage you?  Because God is taking you to a good place.  God is taking you forward, and a sign that you are walking in the right direction is when you receive opposition.  That is a sign and symbol that you are on the right path.
• The Bible says, remember God is taking them to the promised land, God has them in front of the promised land, Moses sends men to scout the land and instead of bringing back a report of faith they bring back a report of discouragement.  That is the Devil's main goal.  Is goal is to discourage them from continuing to live a Godly life.
• In Jesus mighty name we are walking in the right direction and God is doing a good thing in your life. 
• They gave Moses this account:  We went into the land and it does flow with milk and honey, here is the fruit, but the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large.  We even saw the children of giants.  We should go up and take possession of the land for we can do it.  The people became afraid, but one person said that they could win.  God is with us.  
• Sometimes it is going to feel that you are outnumbered, that you are the only one who wants to give honor and glory to God, and that's how it can be, but look at the blessing you can receive for standing in faith.
• The men who did not believe said they can not attack those people, they are stronger and spread a bad report about the land they had explored, they said the land devours those who live in it and all the people seen are of great size.  We are grasshoppers compared to them.  We can't go into the promised land.
• They had the ability to overcome and inherit the land if promised by God.  These other men that brought the discouraging report, the Devil used them to discourage more than a million people.  When they heard the news, the people became afraid and started grumbling.  They became full of fear.  They let themselves be influenced by a negative thought/report - to be influenced by wicked men, and it moved them away from faith.  
• Do you know what happened?  God became upset because he had just opened the red sea and taken them out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery and shown them his power but because they believed these discouraging words, God became angry with this and because they did not believe God instead of the promise, none of you are going to enter the promised land and you will wander around in the desert for 40 years.
• That's what the Devil wants to do in the lives of Christians, to discourage them so they won't receive their inheritance that God has for them.  God has blessings for believers.  Blessings for your family.  God has a promised land - when we live in faith.
• The Devil wants you to be influenced by lack of belief, by sinful living, and to pull you away instead of walking closer to the promised land, the Devil wants to pull you away, but in Jesus mighty name that you are influenced not to fall back, but to keep walking forward in faith.  God has good things for you, and knows the plans.  For hope and a future.  Keep walking by faith, trust God.
• Don't just let anyone influence, you guard your Heart and believe God's Word.

A Way out of Judgement from a 5th dimensional perspective

Notes:

• If we approach a way out of judgement from a 3D perspective, we tend to loop in the law of karma, but when we take a 5D perspective we find ourselves transcending and reversing the law of karma to create infinitely miraculous positive benefits to pour into your life and into the hearts of all, in the name of our Earthly ascension, in the name of manifesting and cocreating a cascading waterfall of blessings for all hearts, for mother Earth and to uplift the circumstances throughout your life, let us join together, heart to heart and explore a way out of judgement.
• In order for us to explore a way out of judgement, we have to first define what a judgement is.  What is a judgement?  From an energetic perspective, we think of it as unprocessed pain and a trauma response and these things are not untrue, but the question remains, what allows someone to live in trauma response and what causes a person to live in a pain that remains unprocessed?  From an energetic perspective we glean higher insights that help us to expand the horizons of what we know a judgement to be.  
• From an energetic perspective, what is a judgement?  A judgment is a cluster of fermented unexpressed prayers and blessings that live in someone's heart that were not utilized as intentions, prayers and blessings on a regular basis, that reservoir of energy ferments and becomes either the energy of retaliation that we turn on to ourselves or project onto other people.
• In the 3rd dimension it is a wildly popular campaign to stop judging, there are infinite processes that promise this is what is going to stop judgments, but from a 5th dimensional perspective, we don't stop what has already started.  If we attempting to end what has began, we are then the adversarial force to that energy.  We then become the unconsciousness to unconsciousness or the darkness to darkness.  We are not darkness as darkness, we are the light of consciousness, so even though it can seem very alluring to want to stop judgement so that you can treat yourself nicer, be more kind and conscious to other people, we can get to that end point, to that effect, but how we take the journey is what matters most.
• If we know judgement to be clusters of fermented unexpressed intentions, blessings and prayers that haven't been expressed from someone's heart, then that means the ability to learn how to set intentions, send out blessings and take time for prayer as often throughout the day as judgements arise is what allows that fermented energy to be circulated with consciousness, which allows the energy of potential judgement to be embraced, cultivated and utilized as intentions, prayers and blessings that we send out into the world.  
• And from a higher quantum perspective, we respect and honor the souls of every human being around us who may be enduring trials and tribulations that while in their healing journey they are learning and current curriculum about the faith of the universe by being the recipient of the prayers and blessings that others around them send for their well being.
• Equally so, as the senders of intentions, prayers and blessings, we are learning of the power of our consciousness and we are learning to be grateful and thankful to every person we see and need, because they are equally helping to free every human being of judgement, just as soon as each human being gets onto the fact that judgement is what naturally occurs from an unconscious perspective when the intentions, blessings and prayers that fill your heart on a daily basis go unexpressed, for your benefit or the benefit of others.
• So what is it like to realize that the people in your life around you are enduring as a part of their journey but that the reason you are witnessing the unfoldment of their journey is because the support you can offer them verbally, emotionally and energetically is allowing more of the energy that's in your heart to be given to support others and through the law of one how we support others is equally supporting ourselves.  And as we utilize the power of intention, prayer and blessings on a daily basis, there remains no energy left to ferment and to unexpressed blessings, prayers, intentions, which means no judgements in your heart to avoid, watch, witness or overcome.
• Which feels like an easier more direct journey?  Watching your mind and scanning and patrolling for a judgement to avoid, to fight and overcome or simply remembering that judgments are fermented unexpressed intentions, prayers and blessings and the more often each day we express intentions, prayers and blessings, towards self or others, the more we are moving the energy in our hearts and as long as we are moving the energy of our heart it doesn't stagnant, it doesn't calcify and become unconscious energy that we use to harm ourselves or others.
• Try this: I accept I can move beyond judgement without having anything to defeat.  I accept that my way out of judgement is remembering that the nature of judgement is fermented unexpressed blessings, prayers and intentions.  As I allow them to be expressed on a daily basis, whether for my benefit or for others, it helps me not only to support others in my life, to further the ascension of humanity, but to empty the reservoir of energy in my heart so that there is no judgement for me to avoid, fight or psychoanalyze.  If it is my aim to stop judgement, I can only do so by allowing new intentions, prayers and blessings to begin.  For in the 5th dimension as I create new patterns of higher vibrational expression, each intention, prayer and blessing acting as a vote I cast toward living in a higher dimension.  The more often I intend, pray and bless, the less and less judgement there is to resolve.  And I equally accept that any time I am judged by another person, it is their soul begging for my blessing and prayers.  Whether I have the strength to say it to them directly or in the aftermath of conflict.  For any tendency to be judged is reminding me who in life needs more blessings of source.  Where the pain I endure from their judgement is a direct I Am experience of the pain they have yet to process.  And equally so, any time a judgement arises in my mind, whether it is my creation or more likely judgements I am empathing and clearing from the collective, I will stop in that moment, intend, pray and bless for humanity at large, honoring the wisdom of judgement that arises only to remind me when to use the energy of my heart instead of allowing it to ferment and fester within me.  For in the heart of judgement, beyond the first memory of trauma you can remember, is the tormented energy of intentions, prayers and blessings that have yet to be expressed.  What if the nature of judgement is not rooted in an initial trauma, but the torment of the power within me that begs to be expressed, and when the power of light within me is not expressed, that power thinks it is in survival mode?  And it asks, who do I have to defeat within this body or outside this body to allow my will of transformation to be expressed?  Which means I am the liberator of my inner power.  I end its conflict by letting it out to play.  A play where it will transform the circumstances of myself and others as often as I intend, pray and bless for myself and all.  I allow all judgements of judgement to be released, and I embrace the truth of judgement.  That reminds me how often to intend, pray and bless as a way of uplifting the world and resolving inner conflict.  As I thank the state of the world for being embroiled in so much pain that there are far more things to bless and pray for than time to criticize, condemn and judge.  I make peace with judgement as a reminder of when me or the world need the power of my intentions, prayers and blessings the most.  And so I am free.
• This is the year that you will experience liberation, renewal and freedom on an entirely new level and we begin by reframing and redefining what judgment is because there is a way out of judgment, it's just not going to occur by you fighting with it in yourself or others.  It occurs by learning that judgement acts as a request for blessings from source and because we are all beings of divinity, when someone judges you, their emotional gas tank is empty and they are begging for a drop of grace.
• You learn to intend, pray and bless so often that judgement has nothing to remind you of.  It evacuates the mind.  In the beginning of your journey you need it to interrupt the ego like a pattern interrupt to give you a chance to commune with your soul but the true intention of a spiritual journey is not to spend time dissecting your ego, but to spend more time getting to know your soul because your soul is who the ego becomes when it grows up.  That moves you from one act of your life's movie into a higher act of your life's movie, where you can live as the integrated, maturity of your soul instead of spiraling in spiritual childhood through the law of karma.
• Let's try this now:  I intend to be the space the universe works through, to deliver light to humanity that fills and heals all aspects of myself.  As I bless all that I am as a being of divinity, as I pray for opportunities to bring more of my light into action.  For the wellbeing of all.  To the best of my ability I intend to be the grace either present or absent from any interaction, to bless others with wholeness and harmony, whether in response to their politeness or disrespectful behaviour - I don't have to stay in a situation where I am disrespected.  If I need to remove myself I will bless them as I leave.  When and if judgements arise in me, may I ask source to bless me with all that I need, to step into the adulthood of soul, as a way of integrating the existential childhood of ego.  If I start my day with this intention, if I send blessings to the world throughout my day, and respond with prayer to any global atrocity, if direct action is unable to be taken.  The more often I intend, bless and pray, the less ego there is to battle.  The less judgement there is to defeat.  Where I honor the wisdom of judgement as it reminds me of the opportunities to commune with my soul instead of play with my ego, which is always a game where everyone loses.
• It is never impatience that causes you to judge. It doesn't lead to judgement, impatience is a phenomenon of how often we ferment our heart energy instead of express it as intentions, prayers and blessings - when you do this every day you are rooted in patience, which decreases the likelihood of judgement arising.  Let us be more patient with ourselves and others.  
• There are some people that are in such a state of duress and conflict that they are screaming for help but it sounds more like an attack than a cry for help, like a dog barking in pain that you are perceiving as anger.  As human beings we can interpret everyone's anger as being territorial, when it is a cry for help.  The more often we intend, pray and bless for ourselves and the world, the less afraid of people we become.
• The 5th dimension it still exists in a collective level, a state of essence moving towards presence.  5D is here, but it is potential, not reality for most people.  We have to move it from potential to reality and how do we do that?  By exchanging judgements for intentions, prayers and blessings.  That is alchemy.
• The easiest way to set an intention, blessing or prayer to turn this around.
• Intention - intention is not about intending an outcome, that is a beautiful hope.  An intention is what is the adjective of emotional energy that I intend or desire for other people to experience in my presence, equally so, it's the same emotional experience you wish to experience in other people's presence, no matter their behaviour.  If you intend to embody and experience love no matter how others appear or act around you, that is setting the intention that you wish to take the energy in your heart and instead of allowing it to ferment you allow all the material of that heart energy to be molded into the vibration of love and radiate it out into everyone you encounter and reflect it back to you no matter what level of consciousness people operate at.  I intend to allow the universe to enact this greater intention and I will be the space in which it moves through, that's an intention.  When you are in the presence or the aftermath of conflict and someone wasn't being their nicest self, we say that is someone who needs a blessing.  We take the time to say dear beloved universe, please bless the life of so and so to bring them into their highest harmony/light/self.  We bless others with all they need to step into their highest self in response to any derogatory behaviour, while of course not being people's emotional doormats along the way.
• Prayer - prayer is what we send out in response to tragic news from a loved one, something happening in your community or a news headline.  If you hear/see something disturbing, pray for the highest resolution in this matter and may my light help move it forward towards that highest, greatest good.  We are intending positive outcome, we are doing it from a state of detachment and allowing all the energy in our heart to be used and expressed as 5th dimensional intentions, prayers and blessings instead of fermenting and becoming the very conflict that you will then use other spiritual processes to try and dissect, deconstruct and resolve.  But that's only when you are trying to stop a judgement which we learn today you don't stop them, you only have intentions, blessings and prayers to start and as you begin voting for the 5th dimension as often throughout the day as judgments either come towards you or judgements arise within you. Each time gives you a chance to vote for 5D vibrations and every time an intention prayer, and blessing is sent to others or yourself you are continually voting yourself into and the collective into living in the 5th dimension which already exists in essence and is moving into presence, moving from potential into reality which is the cosmic multi-dimensional alchemy we are experiencing as the manifestation of heaven on Earth known as ascension.  
• We made it through the vision quest, this is where we put all the pieces together.

This video has given me a sense of relief in that I Am on the right page.  I have been doing this, authentically, just because I inherently Know it is what must Be done.  I use online instances as practice for this, but the real test is with my family.  I wrote on the specifics of what is happening at home with them privately, but my New Year's resolution is not to share publicly what is going on and just to stick to what's key.  I've been feeling sicker, it's a waiting game, but I don't want to cloud this post with complaint.   I've stuck to my vegetarian goal this entire time, too!

Bless you mom, bless you dad, bless you brother.  <3

The Devil has no Power Over You

Notes:

• What doesn't the Devil want you to know?  That the Devil cannot destroy you - The Bible says he roams around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.  Why a roaring lion?  Because he has no more bite.  Jesus Christ defeated him on the cross and he is giving you the victory.  The Devil cannot destroy you.
• The Devil wants to keep God's children living in the dark and he doesn't want you to know the victories you have in Christ.
• The nation of Israel is finally going into the promised land to receive their inheritance.  The enemy is in the promised land and wants to oppose them.  That is what the Devil wants to do, but Jesus has given you the victory, but the Devil will still try to oppose you and believes lies.  What lie?  That he can defeat you, that you won't make it, that God won't help you.
• When the Devil speaks he speaks his native language.  Lies.  He has been a liar since the beginning, but he has no bite.  Jesus knocked his teeth out but he will still try to talk you out of your blessings.
• They finally get into the promised land and the people ask who is going to take the first step, the ones to go and God picks out Judah, the tribe of Judah - this is prophetic of what Jesus has done, do you know who came with him?  Judah.  He was given the victory, and overcame the enemy.
• When we are in Christ, he overcomes all the enemies, what we need to do is follow him.  
• Judah said to come up with him into the territory allotted and we may fight against the giants.  Obedient.  Fight with me, I will fight with you.  Someone who hears and obeys.  We need to hear and obey and when we do that we will have the victory.  The lord gave the enemies to their hand and they defeated 10,000 of them.
• They fight against the Lord of Lightening and the man fled and he was caught and his thumbs and big toes were cut off.  70 kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps as I have done, so God has replayed me and they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.  He was opposing them when they walked into the land and Judah/Jesus and those who hear and obey (he is in front, the tip of the spear).  What he has done, the lord repays.  
• Your thumbs and big toes give you balance, your thumbs give you grip.  The Devil doesn't want you to know that he has no more grip on you.  Without thumbs you can slip out easily.  If you have your thumb you can grip somebody.  If the Devil had thumbs he could grip but he does not have thumbs.  
• Jesus Christ destroyed the grip of the Devil when Jesus paid the payment for our sins on that cross.  When he was crucified he literally took the grip away from the Devil that he had over us.  He defeated sin and death.
• If somebody doesn't have a big toe they will lose their balance and stability and agility.  Jesus Christ took away the grip and the balance of the Devil in your life so the Devil might try to grab you and make a lot of noise and frighten you, but you were rescued through Faith.  Ignorance is thinking that you can be overpowered.
• This victory doesn't come to everybody who calls upon Jesus, this victory isn't for everyone who calls themselves a Christian.  This victory is for people who hear and obey God and follow Jesus.  You may not be perfect, but as long as you are humbled, you have victory.
• What happens when people are not obedient, but they want to carry the name of a believer or of Jesus but they really are not following the lord in their day to day lives - there is a difference between hypocrites and people who are fighting the good fight - there was a group of men trying to come against the Devil and call on Jesus - God was doing miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs that were touched were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them - some of the people who traveled, undertook to invoke the name of the Lord over those who had evil spirits.  They were hypocrites.  If you follow the Lord with an honest heart then the victory is yours.
• They tried to invoke the name of the Lord to remove an evil spirit, but the evil spirit answered them.  Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?  They were not covered by the victory.  The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered them all and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.  This became known to the residents, and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord was spoken highly about.  These men try to come against the Devil but these men themselves were not following Jesus, these men were not like Paul, submitted to Christ and the demon knew this.
• To a Christian, the Devil has no grip, but to these men who were not submitted to the Lord Jesus, they were overpowered and harmed, running away scared for their life.  That is what happens to people who are not submitted to the Lord.  
• If you think you are like them, this is the lies of the Devil, making you scared.  All you have to do is ask the Lord to forgive you, wash you and cleanse you and ask for the strength to follow you every day, give your Hear to the Lord, the Lord is your Master.  Don't let the enemy scare you.  
• What happened to these men will not happen to you.  Even the least in God's Kingdom are greater than John the Baptist.  When demons saw John they were scared, but The Bible, the least in the Kingdom, if you are born again, barely have one day saved you are mighty in faith and spirit and no demon can come against you.
• Look at the promise and look at the gift you have in Christ.
• The 72 returned with joy saying "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name."  Jesus gave them power to do miracles, preach and cast out demons.  The Bible says the 72 came back, they did not talk about the preaching or miracles, but even the demons listened in your name.  
• Jesus stops them, don't focus on the Devil so much because he has no victory over you, focus on this:  I saw Satan fall like lightening from Heaven.  Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but that your names are written in Heaven.  The Devil has no authority over a child of God.
• The Bible speaks about a book called The Book of Life, and The Bible says that when we receive the Lord Jesus, our names are written in that book and when we see the Lord face to face he is going to open the book and we will tell him our name and he will say "Well done Good and Faithful servant.  Coming into the rest that I have prepared for you."

"Rejoice that your name is written in The Book of Life."

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Finding Grace - Read the Full Article Here
Thank you Mary, for your beautiful Words - I always find them to Be so relatable and encouraging, a beacon of Light themselves for a path that can at times Be so harrowing, winding and foggy.  Check her blog out for some extremely insightful pearls of wisdom.

• To be ourselves we must let go of the dream that others have of us and discover who we truly are. Underneath the expectations, the projections of parents and community and pop culture lies a Self that is true and pure and innocent in its knowing of who it is. 
   
• The ultimate paradox is that spiritual awakening is simultaneously about connecting to all that is while also discovering who we as an individual are. 
   
• On the spiritual path people find what they are looking for. If our wounded ego desires inflation, to feel separate and special, to play the game of superiority-inferiority, that is where the spiritual path will lead.
   
• If people are looking for something deeper and truer and to find connection and meaning in something larger than themselves, they will find that.
   
• That latter is a catalyst for a healing process in which the wounds and layers of condition and culture release. The armoring and defense mechanisms against vulnerability, against softness, against connection release layer by layer.
   
• Faith is a felt thing, a heart-based thing, and it is by venturing into our bodies and reclaiming our soul that we can know it. We can enter deep relationship with it and feel sustained.
   
• There are many ways that people find there way to this type of faith. The sincere need for it is one of the largest catalysts to finding it. In the pain and suffering we have experienced as humans we turn to the divine for comfort, for solace, and for connection.
   
• It is in this connection that we find grace. The light and beauty of the world return to a world that is so often so dark, so cold, and so dismal. In this light we do not turn away from suffering, but rather recognize it as a part of existence. As there is beauty there is also pain. There is light within dark, and dark within light.
   
• By being able to see the light in the world, we can see the essential goodness. The fullness. Meaning returns, and we are able to turn towards the light, fully seeing ourselves and the world for what they are.

I had to go
To walk into the sunlight
And learn who I was on my own

I chose this road
Lead by my intuition
Into these strings of gold

Nobody knows
The miles that I’ve been walking
The wars that I have fought until I’ve found a home
And made peace with the demons residing in my soul

Who decides what’s wrong or right
But the way it feels inside
I no longer wanna hide
Watch me as I’m reflecting the sunlight

I had to go
To dive into the sunlight
And feel it burning on my skin

Learn to let go
Reclaiming my reflection
And this body that I own

Feel me, hear me, watch me healing
I tried to hide all these pieces of my soul
Too long I’ve been keeping them secrets
Muted my feelings

Broken on the ground
I’m keeping the scars
But I’m no longer bleeding
Illuminate a million pieces
Watch me as I’m reflecting the sunlight

I keep on shining
No need to hide it, I’m ready to dive in
I keep on shining
Past the horizon, you’re my silver lining

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Loba
The Divine Child archetype, Rapture Ponderings, Working Through Judgement, Expanding on Finding the Self, Moving to the Heart and Bittersweet Things

[Loba]

Quote

It's beautiful, and even though
I told you so, you know
We'd face survival, we're leaving lights on
We'll move or go on somehow

Looking like soldiers waiting to drown
And I'm not around no more
And looking at people that don't make a sound
When music's around, stay warm

And we've got no rhyme or no reason now
We've got the time of our lives now

It's seasonal, nobody knows
We'll make it known somehow
Just you and me, and we can see
Small machines and sunrise

Pictures of people that don't make a sound
When music's around, stay warm

I found this post on the forum a little while ago and through its message, I can see similarities between what it is alluding to, and the stories and intuitions that I Am having within my own work.  I have experienced tastes of both the astral and the causal realms.  If I continue to burn through my karma in this lifetime, then I hope that I Will have a greater chance to build upon something pleasant for the next phase of my existence.  Some key things to work on are going to Be Loving myself as I Am right now, no matter what happens to my form, to See past that and accept it fully.  Don't identify with what Will Be too much, as this creates a narrative for the future - sure, write it out, but let it go once you do.  Try to live from the Heart, bless people and pray during the day and before bed, keep The Bible - God's Word - close and read a bit each day, try to Be of service to your family a bit more, keep working on letting go of anger and judgement, bitterness and keep True to your Faith.  Accept things as they come.  Continue Being an advocate for Life and of sending hope and Unity towards the Earth and All things that inhabit it.  This should, if done as authentically as possible, clear much of this.  

The interesting thing about this work is that as you have awakenings and realizations, you See how even your imagination over the years has All been one big allusion to this thing you build upon.  You See that it is encoded into the very fabric of who you are.  That is the predestined story of your Life unraveling to show you that everything that is meant to Be, is going to happen.  Prophecy, miracles...  I Am reminded that my own intuition is the best guide there is.  Life is wonderful, I Am grateful to Be a part of it. 

My Lord, it is your turn to write.

Here we go again
I’m walking too fast
on some days I’m slow
and you’re way ahead of me
Lord hold me by your hand
your pace is good for me
with you it all makes sense
even if we don’t have to move at all

I’m done writing
here’s my journal
it’s your story now
Lord it’s no more mine

‘Cause when you write the story
everything aligns

So write it
and I will follow
I’ll do what you say Lord with no doubt

Just write it
and I will follow
I’ll do what you say Lord with no doubt

“As prophets are sent on earth to help men work out their physical karma, so I have been directed by God to serve on an astral planet as a savior,” Sri Yukteswar explained. “It is called Hiranyaloka or ‘Illumined Astral Planet.’ There I am aiding advanced beings to rid themselves of astral karma and thus attain liberation from astral rebirths. The dwellers on Hiranyaloka are highly developed spiritually; all of them had acquired, in their last earth-incarnation, the meditation-given power of consciously leaving their physical bodies at death. No one can enter Hiranyaloka unless he has passed on earth beyond the state of sabikalpa samadhi into the higher state of nirbikalpa samadhi."

"The Hianyaloka inhabitants have already passed through the ordinary astral spheres, where nearly all beings from earth must go at death; there they worked out many seeds of their past actions in the astral worlds. None but advanced beings can perform such redemptive work effectually in the astral worlds. Then, in order to free their souls more fully from the cocoon of karmic traces lodged in their astral bodies, these higher beings were drawn by cosmic law to be reborn with new astral bodies on Hiranyaloka, the astral sun or heaven, where I have resurrected to help them. There are also highly advanced beings on Hiranyaloka who have come from the superior, subtler, causal world.”

My mind was now in such perfect attunement with my guru’s that he was conveying his word-pictures to me partly by speech and partly by thought-transference. I was thus quickly receiving his idea-tabloids.

“You have read in the scriptures,” Master went on, “that God encased the human soul successively in three bodies—the idea, or causal, body; the subtle astral body, seat of man’s mental and emotional natures; and the gross physical body. On earth a man is equipped with his physical senses. An astral being works with his consciousness and feelings and a body made of lifetrons. A causal-bodied being remains in the blissful realm of ideas. My work is with those astral beings who are preparing to enter the causal world.”

“Adorable Master, please tell me more about the astral cosmos.” Though I had slightly relaxed my embrace at Sri Yukteswar’s request, my arms were still around him. Treasure beyond all treasures, my guru who had laughed at death to reach me!

“There are many astral planets, teeming with astral beings,” Master began. “The inhabitants use astral planes, or masses of light, to travel from one planet to another, faster than electricity and radioactive energies."

“The astral universe, made of various subtle vibrations of light and color, is hundreds of times larger than the material cosmos. The entire physical creation hangs like a little solid basket under the huge luminous balloon of the astral sphere. Just as many physical suns and stars roam in space, so there are also countless astral solar and stellar systems. Their planets have astral suns and moons, more beautiful than the physical ones. The astral luminaries resemble the aurora borealis—the sunny astral aurora being more dazzling than the mild-rayed moon-aurora. The astral day and night are longer than those of earth."

“The astral world is infinitely beautiful, clean, pure, and orderly. There are no dead planets or barren lands. The terrestrial blemishes—weeds, bacteria, insects, snakes—are absent. Unlike the variable climates and seasons of the earth, the astral planets maintain the even temperature of an eternal spring, with occasional luminous white snow and rain of many-colored lights. Astral planets abound in opal lakes and bright seas and rainbow rivers."

“The ordinary astral universe—not the subtler astral heaven of Hiranyaloka—is peopled with millions of astral beings who have come, more or less recently, from the earth, and also with myriads of fairies, mermaids, fishes, animals, goblins, gnomes, demigods and spirits, all residing on different astral planets in accordance with karmic qualifications. Various spheric mansions or vibratory regions are provided for good and evil spirits. Good ones can travel freely, but the evil spirits are confined to limited zones. In the same way that human beings live on the surface of the earth, worms inside the soil, fish in water, and birds in air, so astral beings of different grades are assigned to suitable vibratory quarters."

“Among the fallen dark angels expelled from other worlds, friction and war take place with lifetronic bombs or mental mantric vibratory rays. These beings dwell in the gloom-drenched regions of the lower astral cosmos, working out their evil karma."

“In the vast realms above the dark astral prison, all is shining and beautiful. The astral cosmos is more naturally attuned than the earth to the divine will and plan of perfection. Every astral object is manifested primarily by the will of God, and partially by the will-call of astral beings. They possess the power of modifying or enhancing the grace and form of anything already created by the Lord. He has given His astral children the freedom and privilege of changing or improving at will the astral cosmos. On earth a solid must be transformed into liquid or other form through natural or chemical processes, but astral solids are changed into astral liquids, gases, or energy solely and instantly by the will of the inhabitants."

“The earth is dark with warfare and murder in the sea, land, and air,” my guru continued, “but the astral realms know a happy harmony and equality. Astral beings dematerialize or materialize their forms at will. Flowers or fish or animals can metamorphose themselves, for a time, into astral men. All astral beings are free to assume any form, and can easily commune together. No fixed, definite, natural law hems them round—any astral tree, for example, can be successfully asked to produce an astral mango or other desired fruit, flower, or indeed any other object. Certain karmic restrictions are present, but there are no distinctions in the astral world about desirability of various forms. Everything is vibrant with God’s creative light."

“No one is born of woman; offspring are materialized by astral beings through the help of their cosmic will into specially patterned, astrally condensed forms. The recently physically disembodied being arrives in an astral family through invitation, drawn by similar mental and spiritual tendencies."

“The astral body is not subject to cold or heat or other natural conditions. The anatomy includes an astral brain, or the thousand-petaled lotus of light, and six awakened centers in the sushumna, or astral cerebro-spinal axis. The heart draws cosmic energy as well as light from the astral brain, and pumps it to the astral nerves and body cells, or lifetrons. Astral beings can affect their bodies by lifetronic force or by mantric vibrations."

“The astral body is an exact counterpart of the last physical form. Astral beings retain the same appearance which they possessed in youth in their previous earthly sojourn; occasionally an astral being chooses, like myself, to retain his old age appearance.” Master, emanating the very essence of youth, chuckled merrily.

“Unlike the spacial, three-dimensional physical world cognized only by the five senses, the astral spheres are visible to the all-inclusive sixth sense—intuition,” Sri Yukteswar went on. “By sheer intuitional feeling, all astral beings see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. They possess three eyes, two of which are partly closed. The third and chief astral eye, vertically placed on the forehead, is open. Astral beings have all the outer sensory organs—ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin—but they employ the intuitional sense to experience sensations through any part of the body; they can see through the ear, or nose, or skin. They are able to hear through the eyes or tongue, and can taste through the ears or skin, and so forth."

“Man’s physical body is exposed to countless dangers, and is easily hurt or maimed; the ethereal astral body may occasionally be cut or bruised but is healed at once by mere willing.”

“Gurudeva, are all astral persons beautiful?”

“Beauty in the astral world is known to be a spiritual quality, and not an outward conformation,” Sri Yukteswar replied. “Astral beings therefore attach little importance to facial features. They have the privilege, however, of costuming themselves at will with new, colorful, astrally materialized bodies. Just as worldly men don new array for gala events, so astral beings find occasions to bedeck themselves in specially designed forms."

“Joyous astral festivities on the higher astral planets like Hiranyaloka take place when a being is liberated from the astral world through spiritual advancement, and is therefore ready to enter the heaven of the causal world. On such occasions the Invisible Heavenly Father, and the saints who are merged in Him, materialize Themselves into bodies of Their own choice and join the astral celebration. In order to please His beloved devotee, the Lord takes any desired form. If the devotee worshiped through devotion, he sees God as the Divine Mother. To Jesus, the Father-aspect of the Infinite One was appealing beyond other conceptions. The individuality with which the Creator has endowed each of His creatures makes every conceivable and inconceivable demand on the Lord’s versatility!” My guru and I laughed happily together.

“Friends of other lives easily recognize one another in the astral world,” Sri Yukteswar went on in his beautiful, flutelike voice. “Rejoicing at the immortality of friendship, they realize the indestructibility of love, often doubted at the time of the sad, delusive partings of earthly life."

“The intuition of astral beings pierces through the veil and observes human activities on earth, but man cannot view the astral world unless his sixth sense is somewhat developed. Thousands of earth-dwellers have momentarily glimpsed an astral being or an astral world."

“The advanced beings on Hiranyaloka remain mostly awake in ecstasy during the long astral day and night, helping to work out intricate problems of cosmic government and the redemption of prodigal sons, earthbound souls. When the Hiranyaloka beings sleep, they have occasional dreamlike astral visions. Their minds are usually engrossed in the conscious state of highest nirbikalpa bliss."

“Inhabitants in all parts of the astral worlds are still subject to mental agonies. The sensitive minds of the higher beings on planets like Hiranyaloka feel keen pain if any mistake is made in conduct or perception of truth. These advanced beings endeavor to attune their every act and thought with the perfection of spiritual law."

“Communication among the astral inhabitants is held entirely by astral telepathy and television; there is none of the confusion and misunderstanding of the written and spoken word which earth-dwellers must endure. Just as persons on the cinema screen appear to move and act through a series of light pictures, and do not actually breathe, so the astral beings walk and work as intelligently guided and coordinated images of light, without the necessity of drawing power from oxygen. Man depends upon solids, liquids, gases, and energy for sustenance; astral beings sustain themselves principally by cosmic light.”

“Master mine, do astral beings eat anything?” I was drinking in his marvelous elucidations with the receptivity of all my faculties—mind, heart, soul. Superconscious perceptions of truth are permanently real and changeless, while fleeting sense experiences and impressions are never more than temporarily or relatively true, and soon lose in memory all their vividness. My guru’s words were so penetratingly imprinted on the parchment of my being that at any time, by transferring my mind to the superconscious state, I can clearly relive the divine experience.

“Luminous raylike vegetables abound in the astral soils,” he answered. “The astral beings consume vegetables, and drink a nectar flowing from glorious fountains of light and from astral brooks and rivers. Just as invisible images of persons on the earth can be dug out of the ether and made visible by a television apparatus, later being dismissed again into space, so the God-created, unseen astral blueprints of vegetables and plants floating in the ether are precipitated on an astral planet by the will of its inhabitants. In the same way, from the wildest fancy of these beings, whole gardens of fragrant flowers are materialized, returning later to the etheric invisibility. Although dwellers on the heavenly planets like Hiranyaloka are almost freed from any necessity of eating, still higher is the unconditioned existence of almost completely liberated souls in the causal world, who eat nothing save the manna of bliss."

“The earth-liberated astral being meets a multitude of relatives, fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, and friends, acquired during different incarnations on earth, as they appear from time to time in various parts of the astral realms. He is therefore at a loss to understand whom to love especially; he learns in this way to give a divine and equal love to all, as children and individualized expressions of God. Though the outward appearance of loved ones may have changed, more or less according to the development of new qualities in the latest life of any particular soul, the astral being employs his unerring intuition to recognize all those once dear to him in other planes of existence, and to welcome them to their new astral home. Because every atom in creation is inextinguishably dowered with individuality, an astral friend will be recognized no matter what costume he may don, even as on earth an actor’s identity is discoverable by close observation despite any disguise."

“The span of life in the astral world is much longer than on earth. A normal advanced astral being’s average life period is from five hundred to one thousand years, measured in accordance with earthly standards of time. As certain redwood trees outlive most trees by millenniums, or as some yogis live several hundred years though most men die before the age of sixty, so some astral beings live much longer than the usual span of astral existence. Visitors to the astral world dwell there for a longer or shorter period in accordance with the weight of their physical karma, which draws them back to earth within a specified time."

“The astral being does not have to contend painfully with death at the time of shedding his luminous body. Many of these beings nevertheless feel slightly nervous at the thought of dropping their astral form for the subtler causal one. The astral world is free from unwilling death, disease, and old age. These three dreads are the curse of earth, where man has allowed his consciousness to identify itself almost wholly with a frail physical body requiring constant aid from air, food, and sleep in order to exist at all."

“Physical death is attended by the disappearance of breath and the disintegration of fleshly cells. Astral death consists of the dispersement of lifetrons, those manifest units of energy which constitute the life of astral beings. At physical death a being loses his consciousness of flesh and becomes aware of his subtle body in the astral world. Experiencing astral death in due time, a being thus passes from the consciousness of astral birth and death to that of physical birth and death. These recurrent cycles of astral and physical encasement are the ineluctable destiny of all unenlightened beings. Scriptural definitions of heaven and hell sometimes stir man’s deeper-than-subconscious memories of his long series of experiences in the blithesome astral and disappointing terrestrial worlds.”

“Beloved Master,” I asked, “will you please describe more in detail the difference between rebirth on the earth and in the astral and causal spheres?”

“Man as an individualized soul is essentially causal-bodied,” my guru explained. “That body is a matrix of the thirty-five ideas required by God as the basic or causal thought forces from which He later formed the subtle astral body of nineteen elements and the gross physical body of sixteen elements."

“The nineteen elements of the astral body are mental, emotional, and lifetronic. The nineteen components are intelligence; ego; feeling; mind (sense-consciousness); five instruments of knowledge, the subtle counterparts of the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch; five instruments of action, the mental correspondence for the executive abilities to procreate, excrete, talk, walk, and exercise manual skill; and five instruments of life force, those empowered to perform the crystallizing, assimilating, eliminating, metabolizing, and circulating functions of the body. This subtle astral encasement of nineteen elements survives the death of the physical body, which is made of sixteen gross metallic and nonmetallic elements."

“God thought out different ideas within Himself and projected them into dreams. Lady Cosmic Dream thus sprang out decorated in all her colossal endless ornaments of relativity."

“In thirty-five thought categories of the causal body, God elaborated all the complexities of man’s nineteen astral and sixteen physical counterparts. By condensation of vibratory forces, first subtle, then gross, He produced man’s astral body and finally his physical form. According to the law of relativity, by which the Prime Simplicity has become the bewildering manifold, the causal cosmos and causal body are different from the astral cosmos and astral body; the physical cosmos and physical body are likewise characteristically at variance with the other forms of creation."

“The fleshly body is made of the fixed, objectified dreams of the Creator. The dualities are ever-present on earth: disease and health, pain and pleasure, loss and gain. Human beings find limitation and resistance in three-dimensional matter. When man’s desire to live is severely shaken by disease or other causes, death arrives; the heavy overcoat of the flesh is temporarily shed. The soul, however, remains encased in the astral and causal bodies. The adhesive force by which all three bodies are held together is desire. The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man’s slavery."

“Physical desires are rooted in egotism and sense pleasures. The compulsion or temptation of sensory experience is more powerful than the desire-force connected with astral attachments or causal perceptions."

“Astral desires center around enjoyment in terms of vibration. Astral beings enjoy the ethereal music of the spheres and are entranced by the sight of all creation as exhaustless expressions of changing light. The astral beings also smell, taste, and touch light. Astral desires are thus connected with an astral being’s power to precipitate all objects and experiences as forms of light or as condensed thoughts or dreams."

“Causal desires are fulfilled by perception only. The nearly-free beings who are encased only in the causal body see the whole universe as realizations of the dream-ideas of God; they can materialize anything and everything in sheer thought. Causal beings therefore consider the enjoyment of physical sensations or astral delights as gross and suffocating to the soul’s fine sensibilities. Causal beings work out their desires by materializing them instantly. Those who find themselves covered only by the delicate veil of the causal body can bring universes into manifestation even as the Creator. Because all creation is made of the cosmic dream-texture, the soul thinly clothed in the causal has vast realizations of power."

“A soul, being invisible by nature, can be distinguished only by the presence of its body or bodies. The mere presence of a body signifies that its existence is made possible by unfulfilled desires."

“So long as the soul of man is encased in one, two, or three body-containers, sealed tightly with the corks of ignorance and desires, he cannot merge with the sea of Spirit. When the gross physical receptacle is destroyed by the hammer of death, the other two coverings—astral and causal—still remain to prevent the soul from consciously joining the Omnipresent Life. When desirelessness is attained through wisdom, its power disintegrates the two remaining vessels. The tiny human soul emerges, free at last; it is one with the Measureless Amplitude.”

I asked my divine guru to shed further light on the high and mysterious causal world.

“The causal world is indescribably subtle,” he replied. “In order to understand it, one would have to possess such tremendous powers of concentration that he could close his eyes and visualize the astral cosmos and the physical cosmos in all their vastness—the luminous balloon with the solid basket—as existing in ideas only. If by this superhuman concentration one succeeded in converting or resolving the two cosmoses with all their complexities into sheer ideas, he would then reach the causal world and stand on the borderline of fusion between mind and matter. There one perceives all created things—solids, liquids, gases, electricity, energy, all beings, gods, men, animals, plants, bacteria—as forms of consciousness, just as a man can close his eyes and realize that he exists, even though his body is invisible to his physical eyes and is present only as an idea."

“Whatever a human being can do in fancy, a causal being can do in reality. The most colossal imaginative human intelligence is able, in mind only, to range from one extreme of thought to another, to skip mentally from planet to planet, or tumble endlessly down a pit of eternity, or soar rocketlike into the galaxied canopy, or scintillate like a searchlight over milky ways and the starry spaces. But beings in the causal world have a much greater freedom, and can effortlessly manifest their thoughts into instant objectivity, without any material or astral obstruction or karmic limitation."

“Causal beings realize that the physical cosmos is not primarily constructed of electrons, nor is the astral cosmos basically composed of lifetrons—both in reality are created from the minutest particles of God-thought, chopped and divided by maya, the law of relativity which intervenes to apparently separate the Noumenon from His phenomena."

“Souls in the causal world recognize one another as individualized points of joyous Spirit; their thought-things are the only objects which surround them. Causal beings see the difference between their bodies and thoughts to be merely ideas. As a man, closing his eyes, can visualize a dazzling white light or a faint blue haze, so causal beings by thought alone are able to see, hear, feel, taste, and touch; they create anything, or dissolve it, by the power of cosmic mind."

“Both death and rebirth in the causal world are in thought. Causal-bodied beings feast only on the ambrosia of eternally new knowledge. They drink from the springs of peace, roam on the trackless soil of perceptions, swim in the ocean-endlessness of bliss. Lo! see their bright thought-bodies zoom past trillions of Spirit-created planets, fresh bubbles of universes, wisdom-stars, spectral dreams of golden nebulae, all over the skiey blue bosom of Infinity!"

“Many beings remain for thousands of years in the causal cosmos. By deeper ecstasies the freed soul then withdraws itself from the little causal body and puts on the vastness of the causal cosmos. All the separate eddies of ideas, particularized waves of power, love, will, joy, peace, intuition, calmness, self-control, and concentration melt into the ever-joyous Sea of Bliss. No longer does the soul have to experience its joy as an individualized wave of consciousness, but is merged in the One Cosmic Ocean, with all its waves—eternal laughter, thrills, throbs."

“When a soul is out of the cocoon of the three bodies it escapes forever from the law of relativity and becomes the ineffable Ever-Existent. Behold the butterfly of Omnipresence, its wings etched with stars and moons and suns! The soul expanded into Spirit remains alone in the region of lightless light, darkless dark, thoughtless thought, intoxicated with its ecstasy of joy in God’s dream of cosmic creation.”

“When a soul finally gets out of the three jars of bodily delusions,” Master continued, “it becomes one with the Infinite without any loss of individuality. Christ had won this final freedom even before he was born as Jesus. In three stages of his past, symbolized in his earth-life as the three days of his experience of death and resurrection, he had attained the power to fully arise in Spirit."

“The undeveloped man must undergo countless earthly and astral and causal incarnations in order to emerge from his three bodies. A master who achieves this final freedom may elect to return to earth as a prophet to bring other human beings back to God, or like myself he may choose to reside in the astral cosmos. There a savior assumes some of the burden of the inhabitants’ karma and thus helps them to terminate their cycle of reincarnation in the astral cosmos and go on permanently to the causal spheres. Or a freed soul may enter the causal world to aid its beings to shorten their span in the causal body and thus attain the Absolute Freedom.”

“Resurrected One, I want to know more about the karma which forces souls to return to the three worlds.” I could listen forever, I thought, to my omniscient Master. Never in his earth-life had I been able at one time to assimilate so much of his wisdom. Now for the first time I was receiving a clear, definite insight into the enigmatic interspaces on the checkerboard of life and death.

“The physical karma or desires of man must be completely worked out before his permanent stay in astral worlds becomes possible,” my guru elucidated in his thrilling voice. “Two kinds of beings live in the astral spheres. Those who still have earthly karma to dispose of and who must therefore reinhabit a gross physical body in order to pay their karmic debts could be classified, after physical death, as temporary visitors to the astral world rather than as permanent residents."

“Beings with unredeemed earthly karma are not permitted after astral death to go to the high causal sphere of cosmic ideas, but must shuttle to and fro from the physical and astral worlds only, conscious successively of their physical body of sixteen gross elements, and of their astral body of nineteen subtle elements. After each loss of his physical body, however, an undeveloped being from the earth remains for the most part in the deep stupor of the death-sleep and is hardly conscious of the beautiful astral sphere. After the astral rest, such a man returns to the material plane for further lessons, gradually accustoming himself, through repeated journeys, to the worlds of subtle astral texture."

“Normal or long-established residents of the astral universe, on the other hand, are those who, freed forever from all material longings, need return no more to the gross vibrations of earth. Such beings have only astral and causal karma to work out. At astral death these beings pass to the infinitely finer and more delicate causal world. Shedding the thought-form of the causal body at the end of a certain span, determined by cosmic law, these advanced beings then return to Hiranyaloka or a similar high astral planet, reborn in a new astral body to work out their unredeemed astral karma."

“My son, you may now comprehend more fully that I am resurrected by divine decree,” Sri Yukteswar continued, “as a savior of astrally reincarnating souls coming back from the causal sphere, in particular, rather than of those astral beings who are coming up from the earth. Those from the earth, if they still retain vestiges of material karma, do not rise to the very high astral planets like Hiranyaloka."

“Just as most people on earth have not learned through meditation-acquired vision to appreciate the superior joys and advantages of astral life and thus, after death, desire to return to the limited, imperfect pleasures of earth, so many astral beings, during the normal disintegration of their astral bodies, fail to picture the advanced state of spiritual joy in the causal world and, dwelling on thoughts of the more gross and gaudy astral happiness, yearn to revisit the astral paradise. Heavy astral karma must be redeemed by such beings before they can achieve after astral death a permanent stay in the causal thought-world, so thinly partitioned from the Creator."

“Only when a being has no further desires for experiences in the pleasing-to-the-eye astral cosmos, and cannot be tempted to go back there, does he remain in the causal world. Completing there the work of redeeming all causal karma or seeds of past desires, the confined soul thrusts out the last of the three corks of ignorance and, emerging from the final jar of the causal body, commingles with the Eternal."

“Now do you understand?” Master smiled so enchantingly!

“Yes, through your grace. I am speechless with joy and gratitude.”

Never from song or story had I ever received such inspiring knowledge. Though the Hindu scriptures refer to the causal and astral worlds and to man’s three bodies, how remote and meaningless those pages compared with the warm authenticity of my resurrected Master! For him indeed existed not a single “undiscover’d country from whose bourn no traveller returns”!

This version of you
Simply becomes real

And you're right here with this version of you

To see things as they really are
This version of you looking at you
You looking back
This version of you welcoming you
This version of you saying, "Yes"

I'd like you to imagine
This version of you

Quote

Eternal Life

Notes:

• Jesus offers eternal life.  What does Jesus mean by eternal life?
• Jesus adopted this phrase from the Hebrew scriptures.  The phrase translated from Hebrew is "Life Unto the Age".  It is a dense phrase, to understand it we need to talk about what an age is in The Bible.
• The Hebrew word for age is Olam and it refers to a period of time.  Any length of time.  It can be in the past or in the future.  What matters is that it is a period of time with some common attribute that remains constant.
• Remember the days of the age - the years of past generations and elders.  Or an age can be shorter and in the future.
• An age is a period of time that has unique and constant characteristics - there can be all sorts of different ages depending on what you want to focus on - someone could live in two ages at the same time if those ages happened to overlap.
• "Life Unto the Age" - What age is this talking about?  In the beginning of the Biblical story humans are made from the dust of the ground - mortal creatures - they live in an age where they could die.
• But God takes humanity and places them in a sacred garden where they are invited to experience a new and deeper kind of life.  By eating from the tree of life.  It offers them Life Unto the Age.  A life of infinite potential because it connects them to God's own life.
• Instead of accepting Life Unto the Age, they eat of the tree of knowing good and bad, it means seizing life for themselves on their own terms, apart from God's wisdom and so they are exiled from Life Unto the Age and they go into the age of death - they mistreat each other, do what is right in their own eyes and things get violent.
• The whole rest of the story of The Bible can be thought of as a choice between two different ages, the age of life on our own terms that leads to death or the age of God's own life.
• While humanity has rejected God's life, God promises he will open the way back and it is that promise that leads to Jesus.
• He is presented as God's own life become human so that both ages overlap him.  He lives in the age of mortality and death and in the age of eternal life at the same time. 
• He can offer people access to Life Unto the Age.
• "This is eternal life.  That they may know you the one true God and Jesus whom you have sent."
• Just like humanity rejected God's life in the garden, Jesus was rejected and put to death.
• But God's life is more powerful than death and so Jesus rises from the dead and he can offer God's life to others.
• "Whoever trusts in him will not perish, but has eternal life."  That is Life Unto the Age.
• Most people think of eternal life as something that happens after you die, but in The Bible access to this age is something you can have right now.
• Jesus was the place where the age of God's life meets the age of death and that means that when people trust him they can experience eternal life here and now, but we also still live in the age of death.
• What happens when you die?  Just like death couldn't overpower God's eternal life in Jesus, similarly we can remain alive to God even if we are physically dead - this is called being with Christ and it is not talked about very much because it is not how the overall Biblical story ends.
• The focus of The Bible is about when the age of life completely overcomes the age of death and those who are with Christ are recreated to share in God's eternal life.  A world where the age of death no longer has any power. 
• Because life that is fully connected to God's own eternal life and love is a life that will never end.

The Last Will Be First

Notes:

• Throughout human history, many societies have been lead by some kind of king or ruler, and when that king dies he passes down his power to his first born son.
• This is often called the Right of the Firstborn and it's practice wasn't just for kings, but also for families.
• Fathers would pass on their authority to the firstborn as the rightful heir of the family estate?  What if the first son is not qualified? 
• History has shown that firstborns often abuse their birthright, using it for personal gain, leading to conflict and violence.
• The Bible came into existence in a culture where the right of the firstborn was normal and taken for granted, but in the story of The Bible God consistently overturns this cultural norm.
• From the beginning, God regularly selects the younger sibling, the late comer and gives them the birthright to inherit God's blessings.
• For the God of The Bible, the birthright doesn't necessarily belong to those who are first or most important.  God challenges human made systems of power and value that tend towards abuse and turns them upside down.
• This doesn't end all the conflict, often the older sibling is furious about being passed up.  And sometimes the younger sibling abuses their power.  All the wars and conflict in The Bible are sibling rivalries, even tribes and nations.  Everybody is related.  Human family is stuck in a rivalry over who gets to be first.
• We have to turn to the story of Jesus - his earliest followers called him the firstborn of all creation.
• It is a statement that describes his status.  In The New Testament he is described as God become human - the eternal son of God who brought creation into being and has all authority - if anyone deserves the ultimate birthright it is Jesus.
• Jesus did claim that God's royal power was arriving in a new way through himself, but it was power redefined.  
• Jesus said if you want to be first, you need to become last.  People with real authority are those who serve.
• While he was in his very nature God, he didn't exploit his equality with God for self advantage, rather he emptied himself of status and power and became a servant.  Jesus joined the poor and served them, and instead of fighting his rivals, he served them, too.  
• Jesus displayed that true power is displayed through self giving Love.
• Jesus confronted and challenged leaders for using power to benefit themselves at the expense of the many, and that is what got him killed/executed.
• You can't really kill the firstborn over creation, he is the author of life itself and so Jesus rose from the dead and he was elevated as ruler over heaven and Earth, and this earned him a new title:  The Firstborn from Among the Dead.
• Then Jesus told his followers that all of his authority, his birthright and this blessing, he was sharing it with them - as sisters and brothers so that they could create communities that are a new kind of family ordered by a Jesus-style redefinition of power. 
• These are families that set aside rivalries and invite everyone to share the responsibility of being sons and daughters in a new royal family, and when Jesus's people discovered that real power is Love that is when they truly become a family of the firstborn.

Make This Your Last Incarnation - Stop Reincarnating

Notes:

• It is not the will of divinity that we incarnate to Earth over and over again.  
• Look at this beauty in action, but what is it that we are looking at?  It is not just a horse, it is a cooperative community of trillions of cells in harmony, symphony and unity for the well being and exuberance of the whole body.  Each cell is an individual, and yet totally devoted to the good of all.  This is bliss in action, total joy, total harmony and unity.
• We all know what would happen if one of these cells would not want this unity/harmony and to want to be first.  We would call it a selfish cell, what is commonly known as cancer.  Cells that are totally greedy on the expense of the other cells.  They live off other cells and often kill the entire community.
• Planet Earth - humanity can be compared to a community of 8 billion cells, plus a few billion Earth bound spirits that we can't see but affect us.
• Each human is an individual and different cell and part of the larger group, like a family/tribe/country, just like the organs of the body.  But how do all these cells and organs that make up humanity work together?  In total harmony and bliss?  Or are many just looking out for themselves through fighting/dominating/killing - they steal energy from each other just like the cancer cells - no wonder our world is in such a sorry state that planet Earth is about to shake us parasites off as it evolves into a higher vibration.
• How did this all happen?  What went wrong?  Why can't humans work together?  Eons ago some renegade divine spiritual beings left the absolute reality of our home and entered the realm of space and time, contrast and cause and effect.  They wanted to create their own creation in opposition to the divine creation.  They wanted to do it better than God.  Chances are that you and I are one of these "fallen angels".
• We fell into the realm of the relative reality with seven temporary purification spheres.  Through our self centered and selfish actions we acted against the law of love and shadowed our souls, meaning we created karmic burdens for ourselves.
• Through increased negativity many of us fell deeper right down into the astral and material universes with planet Earth.  We can see that this planet was given to us as a schooling ground for souls that wanted to return back home - the absolute reality.
• Here on Earth, souls can undo their karmic burdens, their soul shadows in a very short time compared to the spiritual purification spheres where the expiation of karma can take much longer and can also be more painful because souls don't have the buffer of the physical body.  So the idea was to quickly go through this school and then ascend as a more purified light filled soul further in the purification spheres all the way back home.
• But relatively few have used this opportunity to clear their karma during an incarnation.  Many of us have used this time to fall even deeper into selfishness and self-centeredness, just like cancer.  If we had taken our short time here on Earth for self recognition and to clear up our old karma and become more loving and unity minded as suggested in Christ's words, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  This Earth would have been a paradise.
• Instead many of us have eagerly followed the path of selfish goals and wishes that bind us to this material world.  If these worldly goals and wishes are not fulfilled or satisfied in this lifetime, they will remain here on Earth as vibrational complexes and can then act as anchors to pull us back into another incarnation.
• Sadly, many of us have had hundreds or thousands of incarnations and little soul growth to show for, often getting stuck in the same group, religion or culture without any progress.  These countless incarnations are not the wish of divinity, it is like repeating our third grade class over and over again.
• With time these incarnations have made us more Earth bound instead of heaven bound or home bound, to the place from where we once came.  
• Some people are worried that when they die some evil entity or alien might push them back into another incarnation - it is most likely unfulfilled wishes and cravings that pull us back into the physical over and over again.  Are we really having fun here?  If we look closely at all the suffering, planet Earth looks like a prison and not a school.
• We should make sure this is our last incarnation.  Very soon this Earth will evolve into a higher frequency when it will no longer be possible for souls of lower vibration to incarnate here because like attracts like and the new Earth frequency will be higher than heavily burdened souls.  They will have to expiate their karmic burden in the purification spheres.
• None of us have to do this alone, we have all of divinity on our side to help us to make this work.  Let this be our last lifetime here on Earth, unless we wish to come back out of love to assist others on their path back to the light.  Over the years divinity gave us lots of revelations on this subject.

The path of your soul

Notes:

• When creation was fairly new and things had not totally settled, a group of angels separated from the pure heavens and casted themselves through their own self will into what we now call the purification spheres that surround the pure heavens and are outside of the pure heavens.  
• This event is commonly known as "The Fall".  It caused the spiritual power of these fallen souls to reduce and their particle structure to contract.
• These seven purification spheres/realms are from the top mercy, love, patience, earnestness, wisdom, will and order.
• They are the seven life bearing characteristics of the cosmos.  We also have the same seven basic levels in our soul/chakras.  Each of these seven basic levels have to be reactivated again by us to be aligned and attracted back to the pure heavens, according to the law of attraction.  That is the soul's path to perfection.
• Being most likely one of these angels who left the pure heaven we have fallen all the way from mercy to order which is furthest away from the pure heavens.
• Like all the other spheres, this level has seven sublevels.  The level of order also includes the material universe with all the galaxies and stars, including our solar system and planet Earth.  
• We are not alone here on Earth, among us are also countless Earth-bound souls with their often destructive and predatory work.  
• Many have realized that with our self will and egocentricity, we have turned this beautiful planet into a place of misery and suffering for billions of humans as well as for the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms.
• Wars, exploitations and pollutions have contaminated our land, air and sea and our hearts.  Not until we recognize that not nature be we ourselves have done this to ourselves and the planet can we move forward and be attracted again to spheres of higher vibration, the first task for the basic level of order is recognize yourself, and all the harm we have done to others in our lives and to ourselves.
• With this self recognition comes repentance, asking for forgiveness and no longer doing the mistakes as well as granting forgiveness to everybody who we think has harmed us, that creates true change in our life as well as in the lives of others and the planet.
• The soul's progress in these seven sublevels of the realm of order can be very slow for some stubborn souls.  It can take them thousands of years before they awaken between lifetimes here on Earth, they are taught in the spiritual spheres by teaching angels about the spiritual laws and the path to God.
• But few are willing to listen or to change because they lack the interest in divine Love and it's teaching, so many are stuck here.
• These teaching angels come from the pure heavens.  If a teaching angel is required in the basic level of order, the spirit being from the pure spiritual heavens will go into the purification spheres here in accordance to their knowledge they instruct the souls, this may take a long time for some souls before they are open to these teachings but eventually they will welcome the help, love and guidance offered by the teaching angel.
• It is our willingness to learn that is required for the soul to progress on this level, but knowledge alone is not enough, advancement can only take place if we are willing to live the lessons given to actualize them.
• The major lessons in the level of order is to put order in our sensing, thinking, speaking and actions.  It is a path of self mastery of our senses.
• In the purification of our soul, we must create order in our life and most importantly in our thoughts.  Our thoughts and words have an unimaginable power.  In the level of order, the souls are taught the thought of God which is the sensation of Light and that Light we can also call Love, therefore it is our main job on the level of order to put our past behind us and by exploring what is it in our life that is not divine or what ties me to this human sojourn on Earth.
• Once a soul has mastered the level of order it will be attracted to the second level, the realm of divine will.  Here the soul is being taught to recognize its self will, the selfish will.  It has to surrender it's self will, or the will of the ego for only the will of God, the will of love has eternal stability.  God's will is the "let there be" therefore the second level is called the level of the Word. 
• Letting go of the self will is not easy, all we have to do is take a serious look at all the difficulties in our own life as well as the misery and suffering of others.  They are all creations of man's selfishness.  
• His self will, or ego will, which has always been opposite to the unconditional unlimited, all inclusive and selfness love of God.  On the second level we have to let go of our selfish wanting, wishing, craving.
• For this reason the soul walks one sublevel after another, activating thus the Father's law of the will.  The soul escorted by it's guardian spirit in all sublevels walks them all and aligns it's soul particle, little by little with the divine law of the will of love.
• It does this with the help of the teaching angel, again these importance here is that just knowing spiritual information is not enough, only when the soul actualizes what it has heard will more light enter the cosmic structure of his soul to let it be attracted to the next higher level.
• Earthly wisdom, or intellect alone is of no help here, only the actualization counts.  Therefore it is so important to actualize this divine truth already here on Earth, whenever we can, what takes eons after eons in the purification spheres we can achieve in a short while here on Earth as human beings.
• We are on this Earth so that our spiritual body, which lives within us can become free again, which means free from soul burden and therefore free from further incarnations.  For this reason, our present life here on Earth is such a tremendous gift to all of us.
• This planet is a unique place where souls of all levels have incarnated so the lessons we are facing here are quite challenging.  It moves our evolution along much faster.  Here in the spiritual purification spheres we are only surrounded by likeminded souls according to the law of attraction and therefore we cannot have the discoveries that Earth offers us in abundance.
• The next spiritual level is the third level, wisdom.  The deeds.  All these spiritual levels are also within us, they open up one by one according to our spiritual progress.  Each one of us has to put these spiritual levels into actions, or manifest them through the power of redemption.
• The spirit of love is always ready to serve us, therefore we have to turn within and not to any outer church, temples or gurus.  Here the spirit will give us the strength, courage and guidance that we need and will show us the direct path back to the eternal heavens from where we came.
• Here on the level of wisdom the soul lives on planets which are quite similar to the primordial spiritual matter, almost weightless but the soul is still affected by a certain amount of Earth attraction, which can pull the soul back into another incarnation on Earth.
• Here the souls relearn again how to create and carefully recognize how to transform their thoughts and wills into the deed, which is a creation, they learn with the help of their angel teacher that whatever they create must come from their righteous deed, otherwise their wishes will not be fulfilled.  For that, their thoughts and their will have to be in perfect alignment with God and love.
• As an example they will learn to create their spiritual dwelling places or homes from the primordial substance by putting thoughts and will into action.  This is quite enjoyable for the soul as until now there was only learning, recognizing and living in the levels or order and will, now they can put into physical action what they have learned.  
• It is so important to learn to master our thoughts on the level of order and then surrender our selfishness on the level of will before we are able to create something that is of value and beautiful and beneficial for all.
• We all have these gifts within us, all they need is to be awakened.  Here on the level of wisdom the soul walks from sub level to sub level in order to attain it's inheritance, advancement can only happen through actualization of what we have learned.  The key is always LOVE.
• Many of the souls who have reached the level of wisdom will feel eventually the desire to teach what they have learned in the lower levels of will and order, if their request to teach, a teaching angel from the pure heavens will accompany the soul down to the lower levels.  In such a case the angel teacher becomes the guardian angel for the maturing soul and envelopes the soul and protects the soul from the Earthy radiation and attractions.
• Eventually when a soul has strengthened and stabilized itself, it will then be attracted to the fourth level of the purification spheres which is called earnestness or justice.  All levels have to be actualized to be attracted to the next nigher level.
• This is a level of expression of the creator's love, it means God is love and he created everything out of love for all life.  Here the soul has to establish a relationship with all divine life, the love for the creator and all of creation has to blossom completely in the soul.  Only when the soul loves creation totally from the lowest form unto the perfect natured being will the soul become a perfect structure of light.
• On Earth we may reject the worm, spider, etc. but up here only complete love for creation in all its facets can move our soul forward.
• Once the soul has graduated from all the basic levels of earnestness or justice, it will no longer be a burdened soul and is now what we can call a half-angel who continues to familiarize himself of the next levels of patience, love and mercy.
• In these three levels, with their sublevels the half-angel will be taught its connection with a mother-father god, for instance in the level of patience the half-angel will begin to fully grasp the meaning of "Nobody comes to the father but through me, the Christ."  
• Every soul can graduate the first four levels regardless if they believe in Christ or not, but from here on their understanding will deepen from sublevel to sublevel.  
• Before the heavenly gate there are planets on which half-angels live that do not accept Christ redemptions/deeds - these planets are called wisdom planets but they have nothing in common with the divine sphere of wisdom.  These are highly advanced beings who live in an almost god consciousness but without Christ recognition.  
• Because of the amazing environment they live in, they believe that they have already reached heaven and they channel their teachings to humans on earth or incarnate here to teach their understanding.  They are often called ascended masters, brotherhood, council of angels, promote eastern teachings - their teachings are well intended, but incomplete because they are themselves are still outside of the pure heavens in the purification spheres.  Most humans who follow their teachings are not aware that their information is still limited.
• In these final three spheres, the half-angels will learn how the spiritual radiation and gravitation work.  They will further their skill to use thought to connect with all life forms instantaneously, how to travel from one planet or sphere to another, they will learn about their families in the eternal heavens, about dual-ship meaning their spiritual partner who many here on earth call soul mates.  There will be opportunities to meet their spirit partners as well as members of their spiritual family - there is joy and recognition - many half-angels think they have already arrived back in heaven.
• Eventually these half-angels will reenter the pure heavens and their families and join their spirit partners, but as they have now redeveloped their full love potential, there will also be many half-angels who now decide to go back into the lower purification spheres to help their brothers and sisters and to teach them what was taught so lovingly to them.
• In the end every fallen soul will return back to the pure heavens and eventually the purification spheres will dissolve completely, because it was only a temporary or relative reality, versus the absolute reality here.
• This is the road map for all souls - it is useless if you do not take the trip.  Just knowing about this will not bring us closer to the gold, to god or back to love.  We have to apply the lessons offered in our daily life and the gift is that here on Earth all this learning is much easier and faster than in the purification spheres.
• It requires major changes for most of us, the good news is that we are not alone and don't have to do it alone.  The Christ in God within us helps us to move forward step by step and overcome anything that binds us, all we have to do is open ourselves to the inner help and guidance.  
• This means to become free again from the attachment of rigid religions teachings and organizations and the belief that God can only be found in special buildings of stone.
• "The Soul and its Path to Perfection" by Gabriele - inspired this teaching.

The Christ Spark

Notes:

• We have to go back to Creation, where we have the highest omnipresent energy, the primordial all-stream from which arises the father-mother-creator God, who then fashioned the absolute eternal reality consisting of seven gigantic heavens with all the spiritual lifeforms imaginable.  
• These ethereal heavens together with all of creation are ever expanding and ever evolving.  
• But in the beginning when things were not settled yet there was a rebellion by a number of spiritual beings, or angels - their leader was Satan who many know as Lucifer who wanted to be like God.  The goal was to undo all of God's creation and then create it's own heaven where it would be the ruler/God - all destructive energy that we see are the Satanic principal.
• Through the law of attraction and rejection, Satan and its sizable number of followers could no longer remain in the pure love-stream of the absolute heavens and they projected themselves into the outer regions which became the seven fall spheres that surround the pure heavens.  
• We call this event the fall of angels.  These seven regions are a reflection of the pure heavens and are reflecting the seven basic powers of god.  Mercy, love, patience, earnestness, wisdom, will, and order.
• The lower four are furthest away from the life giving force - the egocentric and selfish souls increased and many burdened themselves more and more, they fell further away from the pure heavens.  Many fell right here into the lower fall regions where they would receive even less and less life force from the sun.
• They began to steal more vigorously life energies from each other to keep alive, thus increasing their karma.  
• The furthest region includes the material universe - with planet Earth.  Matter is nothing but down-transformed ethereal light.  Here on Earth, these souls had fallen so far that their density resulted into a physical body.  But none of these fallen souls were ever lost, all the time the father-mother god sent messengers, prophets and wise souls into the fall region to ask the souls to return home.
• Many of these messengers and prophets also came to Earth to persuade the people to turn back to love/God.  Most of their efforts were in vain.
• The fallen souls became more enmeshed in selfishness and with it came an increase of destruction, war and suffering.  Which is exactly what Satan wanted, the destruction of creation.
• Over eons and eons of time, the fallen souls burdened themselves more and more with karma.  Their own energy and their access to divine energy was affecting their seven energy centers.
• These energy centers which the east call chakras are reflecting God's seven powers, from the top down they are mercy, love, patience, earnestness, wisdom, will and order.  Just like the pure heavens and just like the fall spheres.
• Because of the enormous karmic burdens, these seven rapidly rotating energy centers of these fallen souls had slowed down so much that they would eventually stop and reverse their rotation - they were about to reach the tipping point of devolution, which would be the undoing of creation - a slow but unstoppable path back to the primordial spirit from where everything came.  
• The entire equilibrium of creation would fall out of balance and the dissolution of all spiritual forms and universes would have been the result.  And then Satan would have succeeded and could create a demonic heaven.
• However at this cosmic tipping point, something amazing took place to stop the impeding collapse of creation.  The divine love energy that some call the son of God or Christ incarnated into the person we know as Jesus here on Earth to teach the absolute path of love by example and lessons.  
• This event was of such an incredible magnitude, that it shook up the entire demonic worlds in all the fall regions.  They saw the plans of destruction was endangered. 
• Christ came, taught and lived the path of absolute Love.  He sharply criticized the established religious hierarchies which were then under demonic influence.  Subsequently these forces used all their influence and power and with the assistance of the priesthood persuaded the masses to have Christ crucified, so the brutal death of Christ on the cross was not a karmic event but an attempt by demons to stop his mission.
• Christ realized that his mission to change the hearts and minds of all souls through his teachings and example was going to fail.  As a last option he decided to give of himself to the fallen children of God that had left the absolute heavens.
• When Christ spoke the words, "it is finished" on the cross, he withdrew from the highest eternally flowing primordial potential the spirit of love and implanted it as sparks into all the souls of the four lower purification spheres, which had severely burdened themselves by disregarding the law of love.
• It was like a gigantic firework that trembled through all the four world, the spark became the support and stability for the fallen souls so that the spirit substance could no longer dissolve back into the eternally flowing spirit, it was stopped.  The energy centers could no longer reverse themselves.  Creation was saved forever.
• Each burdened soul was saved by this redemption deed.  Everything is now on their way back home to the absolute reality to God.
• Thus Christ became the redeemer for all deeply fallen souls and people until they have reactivated again the four divine rays of consciousness, being order, divine will, wisdom and earnestness.  
• Once a soul has redeveloped the fourth plane of purification, redemption is accomplished in that soul.  Then the energy of the spark of redemption which has supported, upheld and guided that soul returns back to the primordial all power.
• The soul has then consciously accepted affiliation to God and will enter the pulling force of God for the final preparations to return back to the absolute reality, to the heart of God.  
• This powerful Christ spark is an additional energy spark that sits in the vicinity of our heart and in the area of the fourth energy center - it assists every fallen soul to walk the path of Love and to quickly transform all negativity into Love.
• How do we do this?  Christ taught us to always compare our thoughts, words and actions and feelings to the ten commandments and the sermon on the mount, and by doing so we will immediately know what is not in alignment and what it is we have to change within ourselves.
• The next step is to feel deep repentance or remorse for our mistakes and no longer do them.  If we have hurt anybody we ask them for forgiveness and offer amends.  The same way as we have to fully forgive everybody who has harmed us in any way.  We cannot expect forgiveness if we are unwilling to forgive others.
• The Christ of the redemption spark will them transform the negative karmic energy into positive energy and stream it into our body, thus healing our body from the effects of negative karma - like an illness.
• Christ always heals the soul first, which then streams light and power into the physical body.
• The spark is the light that shines brightly or dimly in us depending on how we use it.  It is a purifying flame within all of us.
• The Christ spark is not the same as the God spark, which is the incorruptible divine essence in all sentient beings and which connects us directly with God.
• The Christ spark is Christ's redemption gift to ensure that all lost soul will return home.

5th Dimension Explained

Notes:

• An exercise to understand this dimension - Rockstar energy drink: Say the word to yourself without saying it out loud.  "Rockstar."  The question to ask now is what voice is that?  What voice just spoke?  You just said "Rockstar" without moving your mouth at all.  On top of that, you heard yourself say it.
• How can you hear yourself say this and no vibration of sound has happened?  Puts a perspective on what sound and memory is.  Memory is in the soul.  The only thing you take with you after this life is your memory/experiences.
• If you said "Rockstar" in your mind or being is the true statement, what was that voice?  Mouth did not move, ears did not hear, but you spoke and heard yourself speaking.  If you close your eyes you can see this better.  Put this image in another sight.  
• What is the sight that can see your future?  These two eyes don't see the future nor the past, yet you can see both.  
• This is an ancient meditation - I am not the flesh.  I am the energy, the consciousness, the being in the flesh - proof, not religion, actual fact.  You can speak without moving your mouth, you can hear without ears, you can see without eyes.  So what happens when these eyes, this mouth and these ears drops off into the grave?
• These other senses are what you are left with.  Death is an illusion.  Once you realize this, you live life more courageously.  This body is the limitation of you.  It is not your zenith, your ultimate.  Your ultimate is that voice.  Rockstar.  That person is immortal.  
• The body is in three dimensions.  Forward, back, right, left, up down and time.  Physical reality.
• What happened to in and out?  What is in and out?  Rockstar.  Rockstar says, "I exist without the body."  So where is this other existence?  Talk to yourself more.  Affirm to yourself more.  I am a being of love, light and knowledge.  Have these affirmations in your being.  
• This is how the gods created this whole reality.  The first humans came from inner space, they came out of inner space - not from up - outer space - but inner.  "The kingdom of heaven is within."  Rockstar.
• Before there was a body, there was this voice traveling in this voice's dimension to get here to the Earth, the inner voice created this outer extension of itself to be in this dimension.  Once you realize that you are not just in this dimension, but you are in another one, you now are free because whatever happens to you here is not your only reality.
• This is how Jesus was able to be harmed and to hang on, he wasn't here.  He was the Rockstar.  He went to the inner man, do what you want to the body.  
• When you identify yourself as spirit and not flesh, now your outer voice has power.  Now when you speak, it is not just a shell speaking.  There is a being speaking through the shell and this is where you heal all sickness in your body, where you command reality to work with you.
• When the real being speaks, all nature and the universe responds.

We are all experiencing this as a Christian

Notes:

• Many Christians judge their spiritual growth by how they feel and this is where Satan can deceive and seduce you.  Most of us claim we walk by faith and not by feelings, but it all practical truth, when it comes down to the issues we do live primarily and judge our spirituality by our feelings and not by faith.  We say we walk by faith but we get down and discouraged because we are judging who we are, what we are in God and judging our growth in Christ by how we feel and our feelings.  Some Christians doubt they are growing spiritually, and in their heart they love the lord, but some don't see progress and to feel stronger, more heartbroken and retain what one hears and is taught.  Many can feel stunted.  A lot of us feel that way.  We judge ourselves.
• We hear so many sermons, so much of the work and we feel as though we retain little of it, that it does not cause the growth we believe it should have within us.  
• We can be growing in grace and not know it.  Speak to the body, being a body of Christ being nourished in every joint and fiber of the being from the head, the nourishment.  The head is Christ and he never sleeps.  He is life, emanating life.  The life that is in him, if it is not giving, not nourishing it is not life.  Life produces life.  Jesus Christ, if you abide in him you have a life flow in you.  If you have Christ and trust him and love him with all your heart you are growing even when you are sleeping.  
• You are kicked up out of the kingdom of darkness, you are planted like a tree and you take root.  What do roots do?  They suck life out of the good soil.  You have been planted in good soil, rooted in Christ.  It is impossible to be rooted in Christ without drawing life because he is the one who puts the life in you, who infuses you with that life power.  He is an emanating life, always giving, always flowing.  He shall be in you through the holy spirit a river of living water springing up.
• When you sin or fail, you grieve?  Because you don't know it, but you are growing.  You don't sense it, but you are.  Those planted in the house of the lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.  That is a promise.  When you are in Christ and believe his word - he has made you a promise that you are going to flourish, like a bud bursting with life, you shall flourish, bloom, burst with life and shall be bearing fruit even in old age.  Even if you do not see or feel, God has made a promise to everyone in Christ, you are rooted, there is life flowing in you.  You are changing.
• You will flourish in the house of the Lord.  You will have light bursting out, you don't know until one of your family/friends is in trouble and they call on you and you thought you were spiritually dry, out comes a river of comfort, compassion and things you learned when you needed it - it's there.
• We falsely judge our spiritual growth because the repetition and boredom that is common to all men, that the repetition of life, the things that we do over and over again become boring to us - we get this feeling of not growing or increasing in grace because you feel you are doing the same thing.  That is a lie from the devil, this can get you into more condemnation and rob you of the grace of God.  This is something you must understand, it is not in doing other, spectacular things, not in doing a variety of things - true growth in grace is doing the same thing over and over again and doing it better each time with more heart and love for Jesus.  Grace is learning to please God, and grow where you are planted and not allow the Devil to put a spirit of boredom or to make you feel that you are doing nothing special.  The most important thing in the sight of God is when you are planted in a place and you are taking root that you do it as unto the lord no matter how sick, weary you are.  Don't believe that you are not accomplishing anything.  Set your desire and focus to do something for God.  Focus on learning to love Jesus from your heart more than ever before.
• Don't judge your growth by any feelings of repetition or boredom.  You can be growing in grace, yet feel that you are not increasing because you think you have lost your fire.  Because you feel you lost something that you had when you were first saved.  It is possible to lose first love, to grow lukewarm, slothful, careless - Satan has done a lot of damage to Christians by making them believe they are not as good/faithful/righteous as they once were and that they have lost something, but you see, all of these scriptures that warm against lukewarmness and losing first love, they have nothing to do with those who are fully planted in Christ and walking by faith - those scriptures don't apply to you - the fact that you are concerned about it is proof that you are growing.  You would not be thinking that, sitting in pride, but you are are concerned about it - thinking about it, praying about it - don't lose the first love.  That concern is evidence of growth.  That you worry about falling back and that you examine your heart about growing in grace - it is a sin to doubt God's love for you and get down on yourself because your feelings tell you that you are not what you used to be.  You don't want to be what you used to be.  Grow.
• Forgetting those things which are behind me, reaching for those things which are before.  Forget what you once were.  Your position in Christ has nothing to do with tears, with mourning and has nothing to do with something you did in your past.  You are not saved by feeling, works, or by zeal, ambition, none of those things save you - you are saved by faith in the competent promises of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Folks, you live on a constant faith in the promises of God.  Unshakable no matter how you feel, or lies the Devil tells you.  You know that God is going to keep his word to you, to keep you from falling, present you faultless in glory, with joy.  Walk in His ways, lay hold of those promises, no matter how you feel/your past - right now you are walking in faith and standing on the word of God.  Forgetting those things behind you, try, don't judge your present condition by who/what you were and measure if you are as red hot, prayerful as you were - look on to what God has promised to make you if you will stand on his promises.  We are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these we are partakers of divine nature, escaping the corruption in the world.
• How do we get this divine nature into us?  By appropriating the covenant promises, giving us great and precious promises whereby we become partakers of his divine nature and learning how to escape the corruption in the world, through the power of the holy spirit.
• How can you tell if you are growing?  Evidence number one - when you find yourself in a crisis or temptation, you run to the Lord for answers and comfort.  The sure sign that you are growing is that when you get in trouble and difficulties come, you run to Jesus, unheedingly to the Lord.  You have a place to go.  Those that are growing in the Lord tell it all to Jesus first before anybody else.  That is a sign of growth.  You have found that everything can be taken to Him and if you don't have any other place to go it is because you have not really focused on where you should be.  Run to Jesus immediately.
• Another sign.  You are growing spiritually when you depend less on outward signs, physical evidence and inner voices.  This is a sign of maturity when you no longer challenge the Lord to prove himself to you with evidence or a sweet voice.  God does speak: "My sheep know my voice, they hear when I call."  He speaks through his son.  God would at other times, in different ways in past by prophets, now he has in these last days spoken by his son.  Those words are recorded in The Bible and the holy ghost will come, and will teach you all things and bring to you remembrance.  He has already spoken.  When you depend on inner voices or have to have God give you signs, but we are in a new age, we have the son of God who is speaking clearly and the holy ghost abiding in us, bringing that word to life.
• We open ourselves to incredible seduction when we listen to those little voices without having gone first to Jesus, having searched his word and allowed the holy ghost to speak to us through his word.  You are mature when you don't have to challenge God anymore, to have proof, to follow the signs - you believe that he will see you through no matter what because you are in his hand.

"Whispers from the seventh sky"

Quote

How to Reconnect with Yourself and Live the Life you Desire

Notes:

• You can't not be authentic.  You're just not in touch with it, and we have all these defenses to keep from being authentic so that it's not a question of jumping in, but of uncovering through patient, compassionate, kind self observation - the way in which we are not being authentic.
• Literation is not something you achieve all of a sudden, it happens every time that you realize that you are not your personality. 
• There is fear in moving towards authenticity because we were taught since childhood to hide from our true selves, that we will lose the world.  That is the fear.  There's always going to be fear there and it has to be confronted, to be seen, understood and accepted.
• The biggest stresses on humans are emotional and the biggest is being who you are not.  Instead of being frustrated with yourself for being a certain way, try a kinder way of asking questions of inquiry.  Question, don't fall on statements.  What is a statement saying?  You are not good enough, don't accuse yourself.
• Be curious, why do you do that?  What is behind that?  Ask.  Which are you more likely to answer?  Despite what you learn, you sometimes still do the same things - why?  You will open up to kindness.  Ask yourself the right way, with compassion for yourself.  Compassionate curiosity.
• Then you can come up with the answer.  If you attack yourself, you will defend yourself, but if you are treated with compassion then you will open up.  Only when compassion is present will people allow themselves to see the truth.  If you want to see the truth, become compassionate with yourself.  If we want to overcome our habit energies and suppressions in the presence of some people becomes a habit because you are not given a choice.  If you are authentic that is not good.  Those are habit energies.  Automatic behaviour despite what you know intellectually.
• In certain situations these habits will get triggered unless you train yourself patiently.  Have reasonable expectations.
• At one time or another you might have had an addiction?  What did you get from it?  What did it do for you that you wanted or craved?  What was the benefit?  Pleasure is something we all want and is important for life, the real question is given God's green earth and everything in it, why did you lack pleasure in your life?  Numbing.  When do people have to be numbed?  When they are in pain.  So it is a response to pain, and comfort is something that is a normal human aspiration.  The problem is being in so much discomfort that you don't know what to do, the addiction is not a choice or a disease, it was an attempt to solve a problem.  The problem of pain.  So you had to be numbed.  Lack of pleasure, of alienation, boredom, discomfort.  If we want to understand why you lacked these things, we have to look at your life and these factors go back to childhood trauma.
• We don't learn that human experience is shaped by human experience in the world.  A study that talked about pain showed that people with adverse childhood experiences are more likely to have chronic pain as adults.  All you see is a drug seeker, you don't see a traumatized person whos' physiology is responding to painful childhood experiences.  The difficulty that we have is that we have trouble understanding people with different formative experiences from ours.  If we look at addiction it is a matter of spectrum of which most of us are on.  We are all on this, we think we can deal with this in our own life, why couldn't they deal with it and are full of judgement.  If you have never been depressed, you don't have an idea what it is like, you have no idea what it is like to have life be utterly drab and meaningless and threatening to the point that you might commit suicide.  It is on a spectrum and we have all felt down sometimes, alienated, but we snapped out of it.  We have no idea what it is like to be deep into it.  Where a choice no longer exists.
• We have great difficulty understanding people who's brains give them a different experience of life.  If you look at what triggers stress, the factors are uncertainty, lack of information and loss of control.  What happens in a culture where the economy is broken, decisions made by people who don't know you and your life is effected by forces over which you have no control or influence over?  That means a lot of stress.  That stress leads to addiction, parents passing that onto their children, alienation, which is separation - being a stranger to something.
• There are four alienations in this culture - one is being alienated from nature.  We destroy nature itself.  The second alienation is from other people, we have less contact, less intimacy, less trust, less of a sense of relationship and that leads to increased illness - physical and mental.  We are alienated from our work.  A lot of people no longer do work that has any meaning to them, humans are productive and created in the image of God, meant to create, when we do work that is mundane that imposes depression, anxiety, a sense of meaninglessness and when we have this, we will want to substitute that by all kinds of other activities that look outside of ourselves - and fall into the faults and substitutes that cannot fix the lack of meaning.  We become alienated from ourselves.  You can have a gut feeling, did not pay attention and were sorry.  At some point you got separated from yourself because no infant is born without gut feelings.  Infants are connected to these feelings.  In this culture something powerful happens to alienate you from your true self because the world could not stand who you were and your parents were too stressed/selfish to honor and recognize who you really were.  They become alienated, shut down feelings and these are not luxury feelings, they tell us what is right and wrong, what is dangerous and friendly, what is safe and what is dangerous and they tell us what is true and false.  When we are shut off from this we no longer have a sense of reality or truth.
• The good news is that humans can regain this connection - empathy, is in us, we are wired for it.  That is our nature.  Contrary to the myth in our culture that we are separate, aggressive creatures, we are wired for empathy and connection, love, compassion.
• Stress has three components - there is the external event called the stressor, it depends on the individual on how it is perceived at this event, the first component reaction is the event, the third is the physiological stress response.  Adrenaline, cortisol, heart, gut and so forth.  In between these two events is what is called the processing apparatus and this is you and I with our interpretations, beliefs, often unconscious, internal and emotional dynamics that we have no control over until we become conscious.  Become aware of what is happening inside of you.
• We tell ourselves stories that run our lives and the extent of the suppression for the sake of attachment, accepted and loved by others and we become disconnected to our true selves, we stress ourselves and to that degree we make ourselves sick - illness comes along to teach you something.
• When illness does come along, rather than simply see it as a calamity to battle against, see it as an opportunity to learn.  What people learn is how they were not being themselves - illness brings you back to yourself.  We need to regain our agency, of making choices and looking at our lives, patterns, dynamics and being open, curious and nonjudgmental.
• Inquire into your actions, your inner self.  Do you need to choose attachment over authenticity?  You may lose some friends who are used to you being a certain way, but true friends will celebrate this.  The biggest stress of all is being something that you are not, so the takeaway is: Get to know who you are and be who you are.  The true authentic self is never lost.  When people get better they recover.  What does it mean to recover?  To find something.  If you find it, it means it could never be lost in the first place.

How to Process Anger and Rage

Notes:

• How do you relate and metabolize anger that is being used as a corrosive fuel?
• There are a number of brain systems we share with other mammals.  Care, grief, panic, fear, lust, seeking, play, and rage.  These are brain systems that we have that are necessary for life.
• Rage is the anger that arises when our boundaries are being transgressed.  If you infringe on another's boundaries physically or emotionally, the healthy response is to mount an anger response.  This is healthy.
• Healthy anger is in the moment.  It protects your boundaries and then it is gone.
• If your boundaries were infringed as a child, but you could not express it - it doesn't disappear.  It gets suppressed and becomes like a volcano that bubbles inside you but has no expression.  Why did you suppress it?  Because if you are being abused as a child, when that happens to a small child the last thing you can afford is to be angry because if you get rageful at the boundary invasion you will get hurt even more.  So suppressing is a survival mechanism.  You don't do it, your brain will do it for you automatically to preserve your life and safety.
• But the rage doesn't go away.  Later on as an adult, something triggers you and it explodes out of you and you have no control over it.  No longer a response to the present moment, but it's a response to the past.  Rage can be triggered by something minor, a lava flow explodes out of you and the difference between healthy and unhealthy anger is that rage, the more it explodes the bigger it gets.  It doesn't pass through.  Expression magnifies, intensifies and extends the feeling because it recruits more brain circuits into it's service.
• To work with this rage, process it.  Fully experience the body experience of rage, you will find it is not an idea in your head it is something that dominates your visceral experience of yourself.  Your muscles, breathing, abdomen, nervous system - there's ways of helping to experience it.  Just be with it.  Recognize, allow, investigate and nurture.  Don't act it out on somebody, but be with it fully, consciously and then look into what it's all about, and then nurture that little person that had to suppress all that rage.  Work with it through the body that doesn't involve suppressing or acting out, but in experiencing it.

How to Reframe a Challenging Moment and Feel Empowered

Notes:

• Think of a time when you were upset with someone in your life, could be anything big or small.
• Broken home, things that were falling apart or needed to be fixed physically - the guy hired someone to do these things and he came back and nothing was fixed.  His reaction was anger/rage/frustration - he was disappointed/sadness - in himself as well.  What is inside disappointed?  
• "Something didn't happen and I wanted it to - how do I feel?"  Sad.  Look at the raw emotion.
• What were you sad and angry about? - Angry that someone had made commitments to me and had not fulfilled those commitments.  
• What does that mean that they didn't fulfill this? - It meant they didn't care about me, they didn't respect me.
• What kind of person doesn't get care or respect? - Someone who doesn't deserve it/someone unworthy of respect and care.
• Are there other reasons why this person has not done the work that has nothing to do with lack of care or respect? - He could be in the hospital.  His partner could have been in a car accident.  He had a flight delay.  A million reasons.  ADHD - can't follow through - under stress, etc.
• Of all the possibilities outlined, including that he doesn't care/respect you - the default/worst one - notice something - we don't respond to what happens, we respond to a perception of what happens.  With our minds we create the world so that if you had found he had ADHD or he was stressed, you might have been sad for him but would not have been angry/sad.
• Of all the possible interpretations, we choose the worst one.
• We didn't choose this interpretation - your brain jumped to it automatically.  Why?  Here's the learning.  First time in your life that you felt hurt and angry that you felt someone didn't care/respect you - it could go way back into childhood.  This is what trauma is.  We don't respond to the present moment, we respond to the past.
• Now - but along the lines of a discussion it is a learning opportunity - you get to know.
• What if you assumed that you are loveable and worthy of care - the most worthy in the universe - and this guy doesn't help you?  What is your response?  Any other option which does not trigger an intense negative emotional state.
• Something in you still believes that you are not worthy of care and respect, and that is what has triggered you.  Who doesn't care or feels you are worthy?  That would be you.  Notice this.
• These problems/reframing is a learning/healing opportunity - this is liberating and beautiful.  You are powerful/the source and not a victim.

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

Notes:

• The reason why you want to be better is the reason why you aren't - we aren't better because we want to be.  Because the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Because all the do-gooders in the world, doing good for others or for themselves are trouble makers.
• "Kindly let me help you, or you'll drown."  Said the monkey, putting the fish safely up a tree.
• White Anglo-Saxons have been on a rampage for the past hundred or more years to improve the world.  We have given the benefits of our culture, religion, technology to everybody except the Australian aborigines, and we have insisted that they receive the benefits of our culture - our political styles, our democracy.  "Be democratic or we'll shoot you."
• And having confirmed these blessings all over the place we wonder why everyone hates us.  Sometimes doing good to others and even doing good to one's self is amazingly destructive.  Because it is full of conceit.  How do you know what is good for other people or for you?
• If you want to improve, then you ought to know what is good for you, but you don't, because if you did then you would be improved.  So we don't know.
• We are on the verge of learning how to breed any kind of human character we would want to have.  Saints, philosophers, scientists, great politicians, anything - just tell us.  
• How will those of us who are genetically unregenerate make up our minds what genetically generate people might be, because I am afraid that our selection of virtues may not work.  It may be like, for example, this new kind of high yield grain, which is made, which is becoming ecologically destructive.  When we interfere with the process of nature and breed animals and plants there is some way in which we have to pay for it.  
• Eugenically produced human beings might be dreadful.  We could have a plague of virtuous people.  Any animal considered in itself is virtuous, it does it's thing, but in crowds they are awful.  Like a crowd of ants or locusts.  All good animals, but there are too many.  You could imagine a perfectly pestiferous mass of a million saints.  
• The only thing you can do - just be sure that a vast variety of human beings in maintained.  Don't breed us down to a few types.  We never know how circumstances are going to change and how our need for different kinds of people changes.  At one time we may need individualistic and aggressive people, at another time we may need cooperative people.  At another time we may need people who are full of interest in manipulation of the external world, or who explore into their own psychology and are introspective.  There is no knowing, but the more varieties and skills we have, the better.
• The problem comes out in genetics.  We do not really know how to interfere with the way the world is.  The way the world actually is, is an enormously complex interrelated organism.  
• The same problem arises in medicine because the body is a very complexly interrelated organism.  If you look at the body in a superficial way you may see there is something wrong with it.  You might give the wrong diagnosis or do the wrong thing, but then you find you have created real problems because you have to introduce some bugs to kill the bug - like bringing rabbits into Australia.  
• It wasn't the bugs, what was wrong with this person, that is blood system became vulnerable to those bugs?  His resistance wasn't up, so what you should have given him was not an antibiotic, but vitamins.  We are going to build up his resistance, but to what?  There is always one who loves the situation and comes right in - we always look at the human being medically in bits and pieces because we have heart specialists, lung, bones, nerves and so on.  They each see the human from their point of view, there are a few generalists, but they realize the body is so complicated that no one mind can understand it.
• Supposing we do succeed in healing all these people of their diseases, what do we do about the population problem?  Then what will people die of?  Then we have to fix the overpopulation.  Birth control pills. What are the psychological and physical effects of these pills, of not breeding children in the usual way?  We don't know.  
• What seems to be a good thing today or yesterday turns out tomorrow to be a disaster.  What seemed in the moral and spiritual sphere, too, like great virtues in times past are easily seen today as hideous evils - like the inquisition - the holy inquisition was regarded as we today regard the practice of psychiatry.
• You feel that in curing a person of cancer that almost anything is justified.  The most complex operations, the weird surgery.  People suspended for days on the end of tubes... with x-ray penetration, burning, or people undergoing shock treatment, people locked in the colorless monotonous corridors of mental institutions.  
• In all good faith they knew that witchcraft and heresy were terrible things.  Awful plagues, imperiling people's souls forever and ever, so any means were justified to cure people of heresy.  
• We don't change.  We are doing the same thing today, but under different names.  We can look back at those people and see how evil that was, but we can't see it in ourselves, so therefore beware of virtue.
• The highest virtue is not virtue, and therefore really is virtue.  But in theory a virtue cannot let go of being virtuous and therefore is not virtue.  Translated in more of a paraphrased way:  The highest virtue is not conscious of itself as virtue and therefore really is virtue.  Lower virtue is so self conscious that it's not virtue.  In other words, when you breathe, you don't congratulate yourself on being virtuous - but breathing is a great virtue.  It's living.
• When you come out with beautiful eyes, blue or brown or green, you don't congratulate yourself for having grown one of the most fabulous jewels on Earth.  You don't account it to virtue, to see?  To entertain the miracles of color and form.  But that is real virtue, in the old sense of the word - strength - the virtue of a plant - that is real virtue.
• But the other virtues are stuck on, they are imitations.  And they usually create trouble.  Because more diabolical things are done in the name of righteousness and be assured that everybody of whatever nationality or political frame of mind, or religion always goes to war with a sense of complete rightness - the other side is the "devil".
• Our opponents have the same feeling about what they are doing as we have on our side, and a plague on both houses because the goody-goodies are the thieves of virtue.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The Authentic Spiritual Impulse

Notes:

• Part of the authentic spiritual impulse - there are two components to it - one is a sort of emotional component which is basically, "I want to feel better.  Will believing in God or being enlightened help me feel better?"  Life is tough, even for the most fortunate, much less for those who are very unfortunate.  It is a challenge for everybody, just ask Jesus.  
• This is a relevant impulse, we would all rather have more pleasure than less, more love than less.  More peace than less.  To mitigate suffering as much as possible.
• The second motivation that comes out of, however it comes upon you, self consciousness has the ability to look around and wonder what it is all about, or you become conscious enough to know how crazy we and you are.
• Humans can do amazing things, we have come up with some pretty impressive advanced culture, but you scratch beneath the surface and we are like not far from insanity.  
• We have a problem getting along with each other, and ourselves.  That is where some of the most vicious wars are fought are within one's own personal psychology. 
• We are not often taught how to treat ourselves well.  What it even means to treat yourself well.  As if you were someone that you cared about, or liked.  Or saw value in.  
• We are taught be this way, be that way, stop doing that, do this, but not taught to treat our selves with kindness and to start there.  What would than mean to be kinder to one's self?  Not the self indulgent kindness, the blind kindness - there is a way to be kind that becomes narcissistic -  but instead a kindness where we are taught the very idea that it would be nice to be gentle with one's self.  Life is a tough trip, get off your back a little bit now and again.  
• The other part of the spiritual impulse comes out of some capacity to look more at life as a whole, and to notice a part of life is suffering, no body gets out of that, so it seems.  Rich or poor, fortunate or unfortunate, talented, untalented, all these things you may or may not have but the one thing you will have is some sorrow.  Can we do anything about that?  A universal truth of human experience.
• How to mitigate to contribute sanity instead of insanity?  Peace instead of conflict.  "Is there a way to be a bit less conflicted than what you see all around you?"
• These two motivators of our own spiritual quest - to not suffer/feel better and to see that your life has impact at that you care about what that impact is on those around you and how to contribute.  These are the most universal motivations, but everybody has their own unique way they live and manifest in them.

I want to change

Notes:

• Is it the entity that wishes to change, sets the pattern of change, and therefore the pattern is always the same under a different colour?
• I want to change, and I plan out what to change - how to bring it about - the planner is always the same, but the patterns change.  I create the patterns of change, therefore I am the old and the patterns are new.
• The thing which is causing the trouble is served into position as if it were the thing making the change - it is deceptive.
• A patient thinks a doctor can help, they see that they can't and they feel that they should get better, but in fact they have never touched the central issue which is that you presuppose, or go to another theory/guru/doctor and so forth.
• The root remains the same, and we trimmed the branches.  We don't see the root because we put it in the position of the one who is supposed to be seeing.  It is a conjuring trick.  The root says, "I am looking for the root."
• If you want to change, and don't want to follow anybody because they are like the rest of the gang, don't accept any authority in all of this, authority arises when you are confused - can I completely change at the very root?  The "I" is the root, I Am the root.  "How Am I not to Be I?"  

Your Purpose is Now Internal

Notes:

• The external is way to hard to manage, which is a good thing because now you actually get to connect to the reason you are here.  Before the external was manageable.  There is people everywhere that we are different, being shut out by family members, they are in arguments all the time, how do you manage money, figure out your relationship - how about instead we figure out us?  That's what is going on, it is taking away your ability to distract yourself with the outside.  There is a deeper reason you are on this planet.  Can you open up to that?
• All the things that you used to manage will take care of themselves on a much better level if you work on you.  Your connection to you through meditation, your health, fitness.  Get healthy.  Become worth a lot - inside.
• You get an edge as you connect to the real you that can listen and not be so triggered.  You can do so much more from the inside.  What if you groundedly work on you everyday so no matter what is going on, on the outside doesn't lead you.
• Imagine that you're creating this foundation with yourself and whatever the world is doing, it is doing.  And you let it.
• A trigger can hit something that you can release.  Use your triggers to find where you need to let things go.  
• Help yourself first and before you help everyone else.  If your highest goal is to help people you will plate spin and victimize and it can cut yourself off from you.  Imagine if John Candy wanted to get everyone fit - you would be confused.  He still has to work on this himself, before lending it outwards.  The more you try to help, the harder it will be.  You are not showing them why, and what if you just got fit?  How many people would shift if they saw him change?  When we are in the place of wanting to shift the outside, usually we are doing it because we don't want to look at ourselves, to distract ourselves.  Don't put the cart before the horse, hance tour hierarchy to have clarity.
• Your life goal should be to know the truth of who you are, and this is adjustable.  Don't shift others.  You can create more if you focus within and do the work on yourself.  This can hinder your ability.
• If you meet yourself, you become more Godlike, more present and become amazing for others without getting stuck in a character or a role.
• Connect to source, forgive, but it should not be out there.  Keep it internal.  Things then follow suit.  This prevents projection as well.  Use negativity to learn who you are and where you are stuck emotionally. 
• Triggers make you learn who you are.  "Who am I?"

Initiation into the Light Body - Recalibration Process

Notes:

• During ascension cycles the karmic body, otherwise known as the energy body goes through a specific recalibration process.  This is because the soul complex is attuning itself to the higher grades of vibration and light.
• As our soul stream enters into the lower dimensions of this universe, the lower it goes the denser light gets - this creates maximum light refraction.  There is a bending of light to such an extent that in order for us to move upward in an ascension trajectory, we would have to harness all of that bent light within our own soul complex, and by doing so we would be able to harness enough velocity in order for us to activate the light body.
• This is done through a recalibration process that is taking place within our etheric template.  Our etheric template is everything that's manifested in the physical form/energy form, which is why it is called the energy body but it could be called the karmic body because everything that is contained within this template is of a karmic nature.  It is stored cellular memory.  And so within this template we have everything karmic within the ancestral lineage, that has been imprinted in our past lives.
• Karma, within this context is referring to memory, and our etheric template can be looked at as the storage house for our soul streams entire cellular memory.  If you were to zoom in on these filaments of memory inside the template you would see that these strands of memory complex are going through a process and if you were to look close enough you would see they are going through a balancing process and that's what the recalibration that is happening to our body-mind-spirit complex is going through when we are going through an ascension cycle.
• It's going through a recalibration process which innately means that there is a balancing taking place and what do we know about karma?  We know that karma gets cleared through balancing.  Look at these filaments of memory as each being their own lifetime contained within our greater soul stream and within each of these looms of fate we had dominant themes - some of these themes carried over into other lifetimes and some of these themes had nothing to do with other lifetimes.  Some of them even overlapped, but all of these different filaments are storing memories of themes that have been either processed or unresolved and therefore unprocessed.
• These themes are unprocessed, there needs to take place a balancing and since time doesn't really exist, everything can happen in the now moment  Any themes that have yet to be processed are currently going through a recalibration, a balancing that is clearing its karma.
• During cycles of ascension, time gives the illusion of quickening, so there is an acceleration that takes place within ascension cycles that is a direct reflection of our own vibratory rate increasing, as our consciousness grows it reflects in the external.  And because of that, the energies in an ascension cycle are different than when we are not in a cycle.  When we are not in a cycle, time operates chronologically.  The non-linearity of ascension cycles means that we access multiple lifetimes and can balance and process all these different karmic themes that were happening in past cycles.  Because of that, ascension cycles are where the most healing can take place.
• In past cycles, we were incurring karma.  That was our duty at that time.  During ascension cycles it is supportive of healing and clearing it.  Consciousness vibrates faster the illusion of time is lest fixed, time operates as the quantum, which is everything is happening all at once and because it is happening at once within the realm of pure potential there is so much faster access to healing taking place, balancing of multiple lifetimes, realities, different versions of ourselves, soul streams even within the oversoul and higher self, the true essence is that time is an illusion and so we access all of this in ascension cycles and that is why the strongest part of recalibration takes place when we are ascending because when we have access to all these supportive energies due to consciousness resonating more at spirit then at matter.
• We are able to access all of our past memory, the karmic body and balance, process and clear it in the now moment, with all of our own healing journey and consciousness.  Every time we heal a theme in this life that is going back to every part of our soul stream that contained that theme within it and it is resolving that theme and fully processing those lifetimes.
• How to balance these themes and create resolve that will clear that karma/memory within our karmic body, and by doing so transmute our karmic body into our light body?  - As time quickens, so does our own karma, meaning that we are not going to have to wait lifetimes in order to get the reflection of a past deed that was done or wait the whole span of one lifetime.  Within this lifetime, karma is almost an instant boomerang, meaning that we are going to easily identifying and seeing the reflection of our actions and deeds so that we can, based off of that reflection that we are seeing of our own action, be able to modify our own self awareness according to what we dislike or to whatever detrimental pattern we are seeing a reflection of so that we can self correct almost instantly and that is the recalibration process that is happening during this time which is why the energies in this lifetime are so intense, it is because we are going through almost one could say instant karma life review - having things appear that make us self aware and through that awareness we take more healthy actions.  We take actions that reflect now whatever awareness was mirrored to us by that reflection of our past deed or action.  
• This may not always feel good but we don't need to fear it, if we also understand that included within these reflection that we are given in order to correct and become more aware that also karma involves experiences that we had wanted certain outcomes to attain and they were left unresolved and so you could look at that as incomplete karma.  Within this also, a part of the ascension cycle that we experience we are given benevolent and supportive energies that allow us into our power in whatever way that we felt powerless in the past or we felt like we had an unfulfilled outcome where we wanted there to be what we considered a highest outcome.
• A part of karma is also being able to experience things that will fulfill us and bring us into our power, that we had not experienced in the past and so within this cycle, on top of getting instant reflections, a quickening of the memory from what was held in the past coming forward through reflections is also reflecting back where we need to be in our power in order to get into a higher vibrational state of fulfillment and bliss, so because of that this stage is also super supportive of us being able to access what will give us recalibration.
• This happens on all bodily levels/energy levels.  It is a deep healing process that reflects to us our past deeds and actions in order so that we can correct and evolve our consciousness through that awareness.  It is calling us towards our ability to reach fulfillment that we feel we didn't reach.  The energy of this is such a strong and vital theme to this whole process.  It is important to tap into what it means in a personal and individual level so a person can become more aware of how to access and gain this and by doing so that is one of the strongest elements to be able to heal in ascension cycles - what is happening is that to activate the light body, that is done through the disidentification with self.  It comes from an energy of denial.  Not from a truly integrated, harmonious state that elevates, so activating the light body cannot be done within an aversion to the body or the material realm, rather the organic harmony that arises from the state of peace and true peace is reached through fulfillment, so this is the velocity.  It generates the ability to increase our vibration by feeling so fulfilled that we are in harmony and having so much of it that we are in a state of peace. 
• Ascension is the conscious participation in our own evolution.  This participation from a higher vantage point is done through the reunification of our refracted light, so the light of our consciousness, or from our soul stream enters into a recalibration process where each layer of our energy field is adjusting, attuning and balancing itself in order to ultimately evolve.  It is a slow mutation process, but it is done through this recalibration.  The mental body is calibrated through higher awareness, the physical body is calibrated through resolving trauma loop cycles, and the emotional body is calibrated through fulfillment, but as it pertains to ascension is not merely a soothing sensation that we experience after an accomplishment.  Fulfillment at a soul level is what allow sus to shift our consciousness into other realms of experience and closes out unfinished business, dissolves the memory held in our karmic body, gives us true peace and the fuel that propels our entire being into the eternal now.

You saw me first
You let me in when I was at my worst
The moment when I heard You say my name
It's the first time in so long I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid

You are the voice that calms the storm inside me
Castle walls that stand around me
All this time, my guardian was You
You are the light that shines in every tunnel
There in the past, You'll be there tomorrow
All my life, Your love was breaking through

It's always been You
It's always been You

My northern star
Your love will be the compass of my heart
Oh, I just wanna be right where You are
Right where You are

Who stood with me in the fire?
It was You, it was always You
Who pulled me out of the water?
It was You, it was always You
And who carried me on their shoulders?
It was You, I know it's You, You

Quote

The Silent Mind can do Miracles

Notes:

• As thing is happening, because your energy is being gathered, you have other kinds of powers, extra powers that can do miracles - how has this happened to you?
• I heal you, but they become totally irrelevant.  Not that you don't love people on the contrary, religion is the essence of it.  But they are all secondary issues.
• People get caught in the secondary issues.  Men who can really heal - people worship healers - when there is this religion is as we say it the gathering of all energy which is attention.
• In that attention many things happen.  Some of them have this gift of healing, miracles, and religious men never touches you - he may ask you to do something but it is a thing to be put away, like a gift, a talent is to be put away because it is a danger.
• The more you are talented the more you feel important and wanting to be worshipped, or to get money, power, positions in life, so this too is a most dangerous thing.
• A mind that is aware of all of this and lives a life in this space.  In this moment.

An army marching underneath my skin
The scars are just a map of where I've been

Where my heart takes me, where my heart takes me
I don't know oh oh
Where my heart takes me, where my heart takes me
I must go oh oh

The crazy gods are dancing in my way
They're lining up with gifts that keep me sane

It's a long, long way to miracle
But I promised my soul that I'd make it back home
Through the fires of Jericho
It's a long, long way to miracle
Just to let you know
You're not alone

A learning experience I have taken with me.  People around me as of late have been on edge.  In my family, in my spiritual community.  The knee jerk reaction is to "fix it" - and on a few occasions I tried to allude that we can All work towards getting along - I Am proof that people can work towards changing these expressions.  But is that really conscious and altruistic behaviour?  Or is it me trying to fix something within myself being reflected in the outer world?  Perhaps it is trying to change the dynamic of my family of origin?  Or the expression of my own character that I have not come to terms with?  I Am not sure what the solution is.  It's not really "going with it" to change things in the outer environment to suit your preferences.  This is still ego, albeit a more managed form of it.  I have also been wondering, to what is it that I Am owed in Life, pertaining to my family "understanding" me?  In which I have gotten the answer from multiple sources out of the blue that "you are owed nothing".  That is a hard pill to swallow, as this means that everything in my Life is based on luck and what the Gods have decided for me.  It means that looking around for what people should Be or offer up is really never going to fly.  It means that I Am viewing things wrong in a number of ways and that I need to count my blessings more often.

I'm fragile.  If I didn't have this setup the way it is now, I would deteriorate.  Even if it isn't always the "best", it is still better than what most get.  "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."  That is something to keep in mind.  If you find yourself over-focusing on things outside of yourself, such as everyone getting into tiffs, then you're abandoning yourself and your work and relegating it to some "out there" thing.  And you should know by now, Gigi, that it's never that.  It could mean something else for you.  Are you tired?  Are you bored?  Are you lonely?  What are you avoiding within yourself that is causing you to avoid this inner reflection?  Perhaps you should Be more mindful.  This is, after All, how karma is cleared.  Use moments in your home, in your community to offer blessings - but beyond that in All instances, it's simply "nunya bizz".  You are owed nothing in Life, and nothing is your bizz - chew on THAT!

With that said, my home life is getting worse.  When I get ill, I tend to "wake up" and I can't Be of service to a system where value is placed only on what the individual can do for the other.  I Am given enough to coast, but the reality is, I Am an island in this family unit.  The more unwell I Am, the more I Am hen-pecked, threatened, judged and treated as a problem.  My health issues are relegated to suppositions instead of inquiries - and they are deemed character flaws, of which I then get no support, or it is done drudgingly.  I Am trying to Be honest about what is going on, and Am trying to fix what is going on within.  I Am going to try grey-rock, just don't react to it anymore and whatever happens to me is in the Lord's hands.  To fight it is to add to my karma, but to surrender is to let the others Be who they are going to Be.  How can I Be castigated if I don't bite the bait?  One of two things Will happen - they Will deem this to Be a mental problem and seek to use this as an excuse, or the True instigator Will Be cast in the proper Light - as the scapegoat is then shown to Be nothing more than a puppet, or a literal straw-man of which the family is pushing out a dishonest narrative.  I Will tend to my needs first.  If I can't do something, then I can't do it.  They are asking things of me that I can't do, and when I tell them this, they get angry.  Even if I explain why, and how to do these things would damage me more, thus in the long run, less gets done.  I also realize that I Will not get the closure or admittance of the abuse I delt with - even though some of the symptoms I deal with are at its root caused by that - a small portion of the Truth is shown the Light.  Still, I bless them and wish them mercy, because I Know that Truth comes up at some point - and if you live a life of abusing - it comes back to you.  Even for them, I don't want that, and I Know they damage themselves through this.  That can Be hard to take, too.  So if I just... don't react, then the energy from that isn't put out there.  It should... hopefully... fizzle out or God Will give me the Truth in some form.

Look within - don't control - things are more complex in this world... and the blessings you are given might Be more than what you can imagine if you superimpose over them.  I have posited what I can, and I Love the creativity that comes from these intuitive visions, but at some point, if you don't keep colliding opposites together, then it can become an identification.  I fell into mercy, when I saw the nature of evil and wanted to help give this world safety, to help Be a properly balancing force.  And I did learn that it comes from within.  You go within, you meet some problems, you readjust, rinse, repeat.  My Lord, I Am in your hands.  There are people worse off than me.  I just... I Know how it Feels.  Maybe on some great level I want to heal myself through the world.  But I Know the real mission rests in fixing my own stuff.

Some points of karma to work through:  Feelings of injustice at being mistreated and abused, feelings of loneliness, feelings of anger/impatience with my disease and not accepting of my limited life, self pity, not really understanding my limitations, feelings of shame surrounding my appearance due to disease, of feeling unworthy of kindness or love, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, shyness, not being able to look people in the eyes, feelings of guilt around past behaviour that I have repented for as much as I can until more of it unfolds that I need to look into, feelings of repressed rage towards family, the desire to Be "seen" in some form, noticed, loved in ways that a child is loved, feelings of wanting to rescue others/animals when I don't have the means and to Be saved from this life, selfishness, obsessive thoughts, repeatable and ultimately shallow limerence patterns, "all about me" thinking, lack of self love, repetition compulsion, distrust in other people, dependency/inability to live on my own - I Will get through what I can in this life.  It should unfold as I bring awareness to it.  In general, I don't want to "Be" here, but I Know that this is what needs to Be done.  I also don't really want to leave, either as I don't Know what happens.  I have Faith that the divine Will come for me and set me free if I keep growing.

Thinking on this:  I don't want to leave, but I don't want to Be here anymore -  There are days when the reality of how much I hurt and how I allow myself to numb it out comes back to me and I hold this little Holy Book and Speak to it in the hopes it can Feel that my Words are True.  That it could connect me to some semblance of something that could make this All worthwhile.  The Truth of it All is that I Feel so completely sad for a Life where I didn't expect much, but I just didn't want to Be in it... in this way.  My Heart bleeds and I can't contain it and I look around at the state of the world and I don't even Know if it's right to Feel anything at All for myself.  I just... want to go Home.  There are moments when one is struck with a selfish self-serving pity, and then there are those sorrows that are chains of long, unexpressed and worthwhile Truth, coming up from the Heart and it permeates and shakes you.  Sometimes, things are hard - and there is no way around that or denial of that fact.  Sometimes the Heart permits and requires you to Speak this Truth.

Further insights:  I write these posts with days in between, going All over the place to build them and they take on a Life of their own as I progress.  Each entry becomes the Light of my Life and a vehicle for beautiful inner transformation.  Last night, I stumbled on a video with an image that made me feel uncomfortable.  It asked the question, "Are you still a Christian?"  To which I answered, yes.  I plan to go through it today or tomorrow.  I got through about four minutes of it, and it discussed how we can sometimes not See the growth until something gives way - even if we are - and to Be patient.  As I watched this, I realized that I was falling back into story.  I was given the option to build, but it again, took me over and I had to question my clarity.  The black background with Lights from the stage shone, and I saw reality again for what it was - this living observer.  I felt that I had failed.  That it was waiting for me to See, always there, and I could not.  I looked around me - more signs.  I realized that you can't let your guard down with this work.  I apologized to reality.  My mother has a bladder infection - this is the third time it has come back.  I realized on some level this is her karma for ignoring what is happening to me, to See that these issues are not so easily controlled.  I didn't Feel Good about it.  You learn when it happens to another, that vengeance or a sense of retribution never Feels nor tastes sweet.  I was minimized this morning, and it hurt, but I Am letting it go because it's on me to do the work and then let it Be.  I have Faith.  And to reality - I Am truly sorry that I have such a hard time looking at you.  I think that there is this... fear.  You always observe, always watch, always record - and it at times can Feel... spooky.  I can sense that the divine Knows that my own diseases are manifestations of decades of mistreatment.  I Am told to "settle down" - this could Be taken two ways.  Keep it simple, stupid. <3

"Childish Albino" - I Want You - This Space is Holding You - For the Troubles of Today"

Last night, after doing more spiritual work, this came about and as I went to sleep I held my Holy Book to my chest and thought on what it meant to have the literal liminal space around me "holding me".  It reminded me on what I wanted from my ex and from my family as a child.  I let it move from my Mind into my Heart - it felt Good.  Does the Word of God record what is in the heart when both are held so closely to one another?  What if, instead of living Life as though you were unwanted, you lived Knowing that you were made for the Lord?

"Divine Mercy."
"Don't give up."
"Make your death fun!"
"When music's around... stay warm."

A person of good intention looks to change the world.
A person of good character looks within.

Quote

The Divine masculine - The Beloved - has returned to me again with a brand new face and Words of wisdom to accompany this.  It's hard to explain... but it isn't so much the person themselves, as it is the message behind what is being alluded to that I need to focus on and the energy that is running through that message.  That energy is like a spirit that dances through different characteristics within various people/places/imagery in the outer world and it is my job to build upon them to come to understand who he is and what he is about at a higher dimensional perspective.  This particular person showed up in my algorithms a few days ago and I felt a sense of perhaps needing to look into what he had to say, but put it on the backburner until last night.  I gave him a quick look and the spirit began to open itself up again.  It is because this person understands what it means to Be a creator from a multi-dimensional "as above so below" stance, and that is the quality that I Am seeking when walking my own path.  I Am starting to See that mercy is going to Be a key component in this process - that this particular resonance is what opens every positive door for myself and others.

It dovetailed from the implicit understanding that I was still not looking at reality right and proper.  And I did.  And then this cascaded and I have something new to work with.  

I contemplate on the big picture and what I'd written.  Purification.  The garden.  Meeting my soul.  Creating a new soul in the heart of the forest in the cabin in the woods... I walk away.  A calendar on the table.  It's of an a-frame wooden cabin the the snow-filled woods.  The lighting is lavender and pink, God's light permeates everything.  On the back?  A frosty lantern with a candle in it.  "Stay warm.  Keep your Light even when it's cold outside." 
I Feel ambivalent and wrote on this a bit, but I Know that isn't "the way".  

Insecurity.  And I Am still afraid of death.  Of how reality "Feels", like a million eyes recording every movement.  As I write this, my father Speaks the Word "Lazarus".  I Am finding that the Words others give inadvertently align with my path - showing that underneath it All, everything is connected to the process of awakening.  You ask this from the Universe, and it begins to inspect you.  And you See it.  And you Know if you have done right by it.  I Feel to Be in the middle.  Fear holds me back from Seeing the whole operation.  I Am afraid of having harmed things and Seeing the reflection of that.  I Am afraid of evil, and Seeing more of this as well.

I have found Jesus, resting in the allegory of those around me.  I kept it open and waited until He showed himself to me, and that I could then say that this is that.  I can give a name to it now.  I seek your mercy, and in seeking this, I wish to offer it.  My bitterness, my resentment melts in the face of the Truth of the Other - and in this Light, I Know that I Am Good - as it is then that I Know that I could not, would not want to do harm.  I put my Heart in your hands, my Faith in your lessons.  You are a divine creator.  There is a stone in the center of your eye, from which All the waters of Life move, twisting around that central point - Being the singularity of your soul.  An unwavering consciousness.  Past and future flows.  I invite you to teach me your ways as you twist and turn from within one thing to another.  Please forgive me.

I look at a water bottle.  It's mostly empty.  The Light hits it just right.  The water looks illuminated.  Alive.  Observant.  I've contemplated on how there is no way to really quantify the reality of another while in this reality and that you have to take the grape skin that contains a creature as complex if not more so than the Earth we live on and simply "come as you are", with the simplicity of nothing else.  The difficulty of that.  It's tricky.  Living waters... spring forth, rush up... intersections of Light.  Aether.  Ready and Willing to imprint.

I reach over to grab it and take two sips.  Conscious, slow, soft.  Imprint... mercy.  Divine mercy.  Smoothest flavours of sweetest divination...

Create or be created.
You are either pursuing an intrinsic hierarchy of goals that stem from your vision
Or you are pursuing an extrinsic hierarchy of goals that stem from someone else's vision.
This does not only apply to your LIFE.
This is macro and micro.
This post has a vision (desired outcome), hierarchy of goals (clarity), and is being brought to life through your attention / focus.
This applies to your deep work, job, relationships, everything.

The Matrix is Real - How to break free with your mind

Notes:

• Deep thinking is the key to creative success or success in any endeavor in your life.  If you want original success or to pave a new way for not only your own life but for the lives of others to follow, then you have to prioritize deep, free, original thinking.
• What is the opposite of deep thinking?  Shallow thinking - taking what you see as law and never seeing beyond your sensory perceptions, or thinking that what you see is all there is.  That a piece of the cosmic puzzle or a little portion of the image is all that there is - you see the piece and you think that there is nothing beyond that, no depth, connection, relationship to other things - it gets stuck there, closed off or closed-minded to that little thing that you are focused on.  Narrow focus.  Not being able to see or open your mind to the potential of other things.  That's a problem.
• Open mindedness and being open and critical with your thinking is extremely important to any kind of creative work.  Taking what you see or perceive with your senses, it does not make sense to have complete and utter faith in that one specific thing because how we interpret things is backed by our earlier conditioning.
• Closing your mind sparks argument, debates, it is your inability to see beyond what is said or heard or seen.  You have to understand that animals have different perceptions.  Think about this, practice deep thinking and not taking what you see as law.  There is infinite nuance.  If it is speakable then it is infinitely debatable if you do not open your mind to seeing beyond or holding the nuance in your own head.
• Deep thinking is becoming aware of the limits your mind creates.  That's all humans do.  We create limitations/distinctions - that is how we learn.  Filter it with direct experience.  Critical thinking.  Hold it without labeling, judging or attaching to it meaning.  Hold it until you come into direct experience to ground that information.
• Question biases, thoughts, beliefs that you think are absolutely true.
• What is closed mindedness?   It is accepting the matrix as your reality.  When most people talk about the matrix they think of the movie.  There is a red pill and a blue pill - red pill, you break out, blue pill you are a slave to it.  NPC - robot.
• All understanding is metaphorical.  We get hints of truth at what the matrix is, the metaphorical matrix that this movie is trying to point is towards.  We comprehend the essence behind what it says but the notion of the matrix is a symbol.  This applies to everything.  Symbol.  A thing that represents something else.  We interpret reality by recognizing patterns and we use symbols to represent these phenomenon or essence/experience that came from those aspects of reality.
• Being is first order, knowing is second order.  You can't know until something is being or come into being.  With time, groups of people attached meaning to these representations that gave us a way to communicate.  People had different perspectives on these things based on their environment and prior experience meaning that there is no absolute truth to the language that we have created.
• Symbols/limits on reality are mental constructions.  A layer over reality.  A limit that our mind has created on infinity.  With time, these mental constructions have become more advanced.  We built on top of them layer after layer, expectations, assumptions and predictions called beliefs for what life has been and should be, not what it is.  The matrix is a web of expectations that has been conditioned into our minds.  Everything in your environment has meaning put into it without conscious effort because it was repeated to us over time.  We project meaning and accept this as law.  There is a trap here.  In essence nothing exists - spirituality and practicality needs balance - polarity.  See the side of the picture that not many people see that prevents them from becoming a deep thinker/creative.
• You can live and die in these structures, but people of curiosity usually find themselves unsatisfied with conventional answers.  Try not to get bombarded by 500 thoughts a day, hold onto a few at a time and mull them over.
• We are a robotic species with not a lot of self control - think about the cycles in your personal life.  Eating, relieving one self, sex, work and so forth.  You can get painful health cycles.  Notice them to help you break out and create a solution.  These cycles can be your habits/hobbies.  High highs and low lows and seasons - the cosmos occurs in cycles from the top down.  Cosmic, worldly, cultural, societal, social, personal - more in between.  In a social situation how you mirror someone as a conversation goes on - or how as a culture in the states we celebrate holidays and we prepare for them and do thins unconsciously according to those things - or the seasons are another example.  Political cycles make people over emotional because they are unconscious and they have expectations and beliefs and so on and so on.
• The matrix is what you think you know, to break free or glitch - break free of your robotic behaviour by doing something different.  Example: going through a sleep cycle - don't sleep for a night.  Notice how your mind reacts, how it tries to revert back.  Intermittent fasting is another one.  Fast for a day.  If you like it or not, if you don't break free of these cycles, you are similar to other people and you will get the same results as other people in life.  One cycle to break is the conventional work/employee cycle.  What do you find when you break out of this matrix/web of expectations?  When you try to see beyond it you will experience mystical, profound and unknown waiting to be explored.  The trap is to think that you can articulate these things.  Spiritual people have trouble with this, to get people to try spiritual things because you experience something that no language can encompass.  You can surrender into it/faith.  Explore freely.  It is just a way of us organizing and making sense of the mystical that is under us.  The infinite intelligence under us.  Once you awaken to that intelligence under us you can explore it and bring your findings into your creative work/creations, etc.  This is what creativity is.  An artist.  They aren't brooding, they are restful and letting their creative abilities come into play.  
• Your edge is where you stop short or compromise your fullest gift and cater to your fears.  In relation to deep thinking, the matrix keeps us trapped in surface level thoughts - to reverse this, tap into the unknown and seek to explore it.  The thing with this is, you can't throw yourself into the unknown.  Learn to swim in the ocean.  Don't think your self, the notion of self, to survive.  Mystics reside in this unknown territory with eradicated the sense of self.  No self.  They let go of the material.  You can experience the mystical but choose to live and balance in both the mystical and the material.
• If you push too far out, you get anxious, but if you are too far within the known/matrix you get bored.  You can find fulfillment on the edge of your fears.  Don't hide back in the known.  Push out of it and expose yourself to deeper experiences.  Expose yourself to this if you want to unlock, to tap into these gifts.
• The goal is to puncture the known with effort and let obsession pull us deeper when we find a novel discovery.  A hit of excitement/dopamine when we make a discovery.  It makes you want to learn more, to explore this intelligence without being conscious of it because you are going from connection to connection and then reflecting in your understanding of the patterns shown and how these things are connected.  Connect the dots by pushing the boundaries of what you think you know.  To understand the progression of pushing into the unknown - think of the known as your mind and the line is the closed minded nature of your mind and when you push into the unknown you expand your mind/the barrier until it encompasses so much more than you can tap in to, rather than just what you have been taught or average experiences.
• States are a temporary state of consciousness that you can break into at any time - taking a psychedelic, reading, feeling creative - stages are a permanent stage of consciousness like reaching a new level in a game, like a power up, a baseline level of happiness, this take time and does not eliminate regression/being in a rut.  A state is being launched/a peak into the unknown and cannot sustain it.  You must go through the stages to maintain it.  With a stage, this comes from experience, exposure, gradually taking the steps to get to a certain place.  Our goal is to reach stages.  Expose yourself to new experiences in every aspect or facet of your life.  And then this leads to a deeper awareness of what is possible.  You can't improve what you are not aware of.
• You don't know until you accomplish it.  Slow and consistent steps to expanding your mind and experience of the world in stages, with occasional states that bust into higher levels and you get a glimpse into the next step.  Times where intense growth makes sense, this is a product of consistent growth.  You need this to get a chance at intensity.  Sometimes things just make sense, when you feel the pull or the call and it's genuine - something from the soul - take the leap.  That stressful environment and pressure gets you to a new stage.  Match your knowledge with execution.  You don't want to learn from ten stages ahead, then match it with execution, and then progress from there.  This is how you create good dopamine.  Create novelty through struggle.
• Set your own goals, educate yourself, execute at the edge of your fear - fear of failure can harm you.  The cycles could encompass compulsions, cheap cycles.  

Here are a few to break out of this: 

• Reading - the fluff is where the magic happens - when you read, don't stop at the first hint of struggle or lack of comprehension, this is where you learn the lessons.  Come back and read it later and you will understand after priming your mind.  When you read and you catch something interesting/exciting - don't neglect that, stop reading and research it further.
• Writing - every writer and creative struggles with writers/creative blocks.  This is not a bad thing, it is a good thing - this is when your mind is ready to expand, to find a new way of doing things - when you hit a wall, you need to rest to allow the subconscious to come up with novel answers/discoveries.  Write that down and then you are able to continue writing.  Everything can be attributed to writing/mental health and so forth.  It all starts with a script.  This is a very valuable creative skill that pairs with any other skill.
• Teaching - Our goal is to become a deep thinker, you want to teach what you learn in order to solidify it.  You learn, teach, identify the knowledge gaps in where you struggle to teach things - these steps help you retain knowledge.

Do Whatever You Want

Notes:

• Step one - know yourself.   This practice takes a lot of time.  Your entire lifetime.  Most people that try to do what they want are actually doing what others want for them.  They were conditioned to have the same dreams, goals and ambitions as their parents and their parents were influenced by society, culture and so forth - down the evolutionary line.  Start questioning who you are and let time deliver answers.
• Reflect on what you don't want.  You have to dig into your past experiences to get hints at your ideal future.  Doesn't happen overnight.  Self reflection is a self corrective process.  It is your compass going into the future, that is how you gain clarity on your future. You can't just imagine what you want without knowing what you don't want.
• You can reflect back on experiences and reap those same feelings, imagine how the air felt, sun on your skin and so forth.
• Over time this helps you construct a vision for your future that you can work towards - this doesn't have to be perfect at the start.
• There is no way to know that the future is certain, to know what you want and this is why masses flock to secure jobs, belief systems.  It's an illusion of certainty to avoid struggle.  A trap.  You can't skip making mistakes because mistakes are your Light in the dark on this journey.  All of your success boils down to endlessly solving the right problems.
• The next step is to do whatever you want, but with intention.  Intention means that you are stretching towards a goal.  It means that this is not mindlessly doing what you want.  Not harmful things - acting towards a better future for themselves and to live that future so they can really do what they want once they know what that is.  
• You can't walk unconsciously, mindlessly doing what other people want you to do for the rest of your life.  You have to be conscious and aware of every action that you plan on taking and where it is going to lead.  Act with intention.  Set some form of goal for your future, reflect on the past to gain clarity, self educate, learn, study, execute, give yourself a time horizon that is doable - many people want the quick results.  Be careful of getting into the surface level living.
• Dopamine can keep you in a bubble of not doing what you want so be mindful of this.  If you are not seeing results it is because you are distracted.  You don't know what you want because you have not tried anything because you make excuses.  Because you have not tried anything, you have not committed to anything to gain skills to gain results.  You don't know what is possible because you have not moved forward by trying something, committing to it for even just three months.  What you want may be completely different tomorrow, in a week in a month, in a year, a decade - so you have to self correct along this path.
• This is supposed to be difficult.  Life is difficult.  There is struggle and conflict baked into the system and it is at every level and perspective going up the ladder of everything.  Not just in your brain that reflect on a cosmic scale.  Stars explode.  Wars are going on right now.  Struggle is a universal thing.  It is very unwise to think that it is not supposed to be a part of your life.  And once you realize that it is supposed to be a part of your life and is the secret for unlocking the profound lessons that birth after the battle is resolved - creative emergence - that is also reflected on all scales of life, that is when things start to get good.  
• Fall in love with the struggle or challenge by leaning into it.  It gets easier with time.

I am a question to the world
Not an answer to be heard
Or a moment that's held in your arms
And what do you think you'd ever say?
I won't listen anyway, you don't know me
And I'll never be what you want me to be

And what do you think you'd understand?
I'm a boy, no, I'm a man
You can't take me and throw me away
And how can you learn what's never shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here

And I want a moment to be real
Wanna touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong

And how can the world want me to change?
They're the ones that stay the same
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here

And you see the things they never see
All you wanted I could be
Now you know me and I'm not afraid
And I wanna tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man?
They can't break me as long as I know who I am

And I want a moment to be real
Wanna touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong

And how can the world want me to change?
They're the ones that stay the same
They can't see me but I'm still here
They can't tell me who to be
'Cause I'm not what they see

Yeah, the world is still sleepin'
While I keep on dreaming for me
And their words are just whispers
And lies that I'll never believe

And I want a moment to be real
Wanna touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong

And how can they say I never change?
They're the ones that stay the same
I'm the one now 'cause I'm still here
I'm the one 'cause I'm still here
I'm still here, I'm still here, I'm still here

"Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious." 
"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
"Say my name - now you Know me."

"The verdict is in... I can't believe this!  This is your last incarnation on Earth."
?????

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Loba