Our continued participation in this circus performance we call politics continues to feed the illusion of its legitimacy. By withdrawing our consent and participation in politics we may be freeing up considerable resources to apply toward the creation of a better world, while simultaneously helping to snuff out this energetic vampire that feeds heartily on our collective good will and positive energy.
In a time when our economy desperately needs more innovators, how can we change education to expand the potential of each child? It seems we must do some things we did NOT learn in school: Question assumptions about education; think for and believe in ourselves; speak up against what we know is wrong; and challenge what we’ve been taught to believe is right. It is each parent’s right and responsibility to decide the best way to guide their child to maximum human potential.
He spent the rest of his life promoting that concept and the theory of social structure known as anarchism. To Americans anarchism is synonymous with a lack of order. But to Kropotkin anarchist societies don’t lack order but the order emerges from rules designed by those who feel their impact, rules that encourage humanly scaled production systems and maximize individual freedom and social cohesion.
Using violence to get what you want is the foundation of modern society. So is violence good, or is violence bad? Is it really the best way to solve the most complex social problems? A must watch explanation of the Non-Aggression Principle by Stefan Molyneux.
What if each of us focused our energy on figuratively building our own rafts to float against the current? What if each raft represented a productive individual solution? And what would happen if each disenfranchised protester stopped demanding something, and, instead, simply started creating the change?
Both the Butterfly Effect and the Tipping Point models call into question the very nature of control. We are continuously bombarded by bureaucracy and larger systems that serve as the “managers” of our daily lives and our society, but this appears to be a false construct. It seems that the chaotic nature of interaction based upon free will suggests that the individual is the seat of true power and change.
I have a right to ingest/smoke whatever I want and to explore the contents of “my own mind” in the process, so long as I am not hurting anyone else, even if it kills me. This is a basic human right, albeit one that few people think of. Imagine if you had the right to have a shed in your backyard, but you didn’t have a right to explore the contents of that shed. That would be a little insulting, wouldn’t it?
Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
There are a lot of different ways to get involved in influencing peace and freedom. You don’t have to be a philosopher if that’s not your thing; you don’t have to make signs and march if you don’t want to; and you don’t have to get involved with podcasting or video editing if you don’t have the ability to. You can make great contributions to freedom movement simply by doing what you love and sharing your unique gift with the world. Maybe you are an artist, musician, comedian, or you have some kind of public platform that will allow you to bring these ideas to a lot of people.
Steve Bhaerman gives an inspiring speech on the value of being human in a time of great change.
The fitting reality of this is that the entire spectacle has been put together for you. The entire universe exists because you do. You could be in the middle of trackless sands, or an endless mountain range and the oasis will appear, as will sweet honey from a rock. There is nowhere you can be that the master of all things is not present. It is the seeing and believing that is difficult but… you’re still here, aren’t you?
To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.
To him, the religions were an unnecessary structure that people have created to try to understand. And understanding is not part of this at all. If you really wanted to set him off, you would just say, Don’t you think people can understand nature? And he would say, People can’t really, truly understand anything.
It’s very obvious that quantum physics, parapsychology and all the work they’re doing attaching brain scanners to Yogis and Zen masters means we’re going to learn a great deal about the non-local quantum circuit. I think the history of mysticism has been sort of like a bunch of firecrackers with two or three going off every century. With the LSD revolution it became two or three every month and now it’s moving up to two or three every week. I see a real acceleration in consciousness, just like in technology.
Plato lets Socrates describe a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato’s Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.
Many Americans believe the United States to be the greatest country on Earth, the center of the Universe. A place that all other nations seek to emulate. Indeed, it is the only global super power with many endearing qualities. However, as one travels to other nations and experiences foreign cultures, many preconceived notions about America seem to dissipate, while others may be enhanced.
We are not, as the old guard preaches, feeble and passive observers of a fixed, objective order or cogs in a giant, lifeless machine. Nor are we, as the new guard intones, the all-powerful masters of our own destiny, capable of instantly conjuring anything we want out of pixie dust and wishful thinking. We are co-creative participants in a great cosmic adventure, the outcome of which must always remain unknown.
Why are some people abundantly happy, prosperous and full of life in every moment? In this video collage, Will Smith shares his infectious smile and his enthusiasm for life, and how that passion manifests as success and greatness. Work ethic, skill, commitment. Will believes that he can create whatever it is he wants to create, brick by brick and using the power of clear intention, the secret.
Joseph Campbell, in this classic PBS interview with Mil Moyers, talks about the hero path, the God within, and the path towards personal individuation. Joseph Campbell is one of the most inspirational speakers, offering insight into the human journey, bringing together myth, psychology and the cosmos.
Love is a verb, it’s the creative life force of the universe unfurling in real time, it’s the breaking wave of transformation, it’s life itself, propelled by the evolutionary energy that burst forth some fourteen billion years ago that is always and ever yearning for greater and greater depth, complexity and creativity, an infinite journey into the vastness of consciousness unfolding in real time.
