Tag: consciousness

Sometimes things are a matter of perspective, but oppressing the human spirit is always a losing proposition.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Mental Health, Oppression, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality, Sustainability
(c) mrdoggs http://www.fotosearch.com

There has been a lot in the news the past few months about the Epstein files, Pizzagate and other similar tales of sordid human abuse and trafficking along with the apparent connection between these things and an unspecified number of the wealthy and politically powerful people in the world. It can make one wonder why people who have so much would engage in such horrible activities. The beginning of this post is addressing one logical connection from a psychological perspective. A lot of this post is not pleasant, but it reflects a reality in our world. A lot of people would rather ignore this reality, but doing so is like ignoring a rabid animal in the midst of our cities and towns. We don’t need to obsess about it, but we should be aware. Awareness is the first step toward protecting ourselves from the human predators which exist in both low and high places.

Sometimes things are a matter of perspective.  For instance, to someone who has been taught, one way or another, to be afraid of the world, afraid of the natural processes in the world, afraid of the other people in the world, it might seem the most natural thing on Earth to strive to accumulate as much wealth and power, to try to control everything it is possible, in order to protect oneself from the threat of, well, “the other”.   From such a perspective empathy, compassion, sympathy, or pity toward the general population of the world may well seem to be feelings and thoughts to be strictly avoided.  Anything that opens a person up to “them”; the dangerous masses which they perceive as a blight on the Earth, or as waiting outside the gate to swarm them, to take what they have, one way or another, acquired; makes the general population of the world something to be held in contempt, feared, and any feelings of empathy or compassion toward the general population a disease to inoculate themselves against.  This logic tends to lead things toward to a self-fulfilling prophecy which only escalates the division, contempt and fear which now builds on both sides of the great imbalance.

How does one inoculate themself against essentail, life oriented human emotions?  How can such a hardened shell be built?  Further, how can such an inhuman condition be maintained? We know, and can see in the behavior of healthy infants that he feelings of empathy, compassion, sympathy are some of the most innate, natural emotions for humans, It can even be said that the development of these emotions is a significant part of what differentiates us from many other species. However, the solution to this dilemma is one that humanity has seen in world time and time again, war after war.  The answer is trauma.  Experiencing repeated, profound trauma; emotional, psychological, physical and/or chemical trauma, either acutely or chronically, and it can cause the physiology of such human emotions to experience shut down..  This is not uncommon among soldiers coming home from prolonged or extreme combat situations. Today one name that assign to such numbing or cut off from one’s emotions is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. 

If, deep down inside, you have not been taught, by instruction or experience, to be fearful of the general population. If you are someone who has experienced love, caring and being cared for, these are feelings that a healthy person doesn’t want to lose the ability to feel. A healthy person wants to freely care about others and be cared about in return.  Victims of PTSD seek treatment.  Seek to get back in touch with feelings of empathy, compassion and love. They seek to get back in touch with the blessing of calm serenity down deep in their soul. 

But what if a person can’t remember ever knowing those feelings? What if they have been so traumatized, or otherwise injured, by psychological, emotional, physical and or chemical abuse at an early age? Or even prenatally (such as with prenatal alcohol exposure), that they have been incapable of feeling empathy or compassion as long as they can remember? Would people who have been living in a sub-culture which holds empathy and compassion for the general population in contempt actually go so far as to engage in behaviors, even rituals, to emotionally and psychologically cutoff themselves and/or their offspring from these emotions? There is significant evidence that they not only would, but that this is not all that uncommon in some of the most avaricious individuals and organizations in the world. I know this is hard for many people to believe; people who love their children and the children of their neighbors. It certainly is distasteful and something that many people, if not most, do not want to contemplate.

That, by the way, is a protective factor for those engaging in such inhuman treatment of their own children and too often the children of others. A strong aversion or resistance on the part of people in the general population to seeing, hearing about, or thinking about such behaviors provides the perpetrators with a kind of invisibility. Healthy people who do not want to contemplate such aberration seem quick to accept that any allegations of such behavior is a fabrication of people who themselves must be psychologically disturbed.

But if a person is someone who is seeking a state which allows them to have sufficient psychological and emotional comfort while engaging in inhuman behaviors toward others, then they don’t seek treatment for the lack of experiencing empathy and compassion. Quite the contrary, they go to sometimes great efforts to seek, establish, reinforce and maintain it.  They seek out ways to inflict the emotionally disabling effects of PTSD upon themselves. One way is expose themselves to other people’s trauma.  Vicarious traumatization can inflict the same effects as first-hand trauma. Also, it is less life threatening. How does one expose themselves to such experiences of other people experiencing trauma?  Today it isn’t all that hard to find both fictional and actual written accounts and photos as well as audio and video recordings of people experiencing trauma.  There are movies, books, and documentaries which show the horrors that exist through either natural disasters, or more often by human beings committing inhuman acts toward other human beings.  Video footage from wars or videos of people who are in the process of experiencing a violent, cruel death in other ways. There are even “underground” film makers who plan and produce such films. These are all resources that assist to emotionally/psychologically and spiritually numb a person to the natural human reactions to suffering and death.  The literature informs us that watching children experience such horrible abuses can hold even a higher degree of sought after trauma than watching adults go through them. Reportedly, this is because children’s emotions are purer, more intense.  A healthy human being feels an affinity, a natural, protective feeling toward children.  But if you’re someone seeking to make yourself into someone devoid of such affinity for people in general, caring about children is just one more avenue of unwanted emotional access to your mind, your feelings. 

It seems that just as with building tolerance with a drug addiction, vicarious traumatization isn’t enough after a while.  Like a drug addict with increasing tolerance, the person needs more intensity in the traumatic realities that they are witnessing. What is known about this phenomenon informs us that some find themselves moving on to the real thing.  Another thing that we can know from the literature on human spirituality and sometimes by our own experiences, is that the positive aspects of the human spirit can be very resilient. To a mentally, emotionally healthy person this resilience of feelings such as love, empathy, caring, is indicative of the beauty of the human spirit.   But to someone seeking to not feel those aspects of the human spirit this natural resilience must seem something like the recurrence of disease. Such feelings are contrary to being able to abuse others, to take from others the things that others need to sustain their lives.  For some, if not all, abusers, there is reportedly a measure of perverted satisfaction the person also takes from inflicting mental/emotional/spiritual or economic suffering upon others. There is a likelihood that people who are participating in inflicting such horrors and abuses upon others are sometimes members of families or other groups who have been engaging in such behaviors over many generations. Lineages of people who have been honing, and profiting from, their ability to act inhumanly toward others.

We are all social beings, it is a deeply rooted part of being human. Why would it be any different for even the most ego driven, spiritually perverted, among us?  We know individuals engaging in such abusive, heinous behaviors sometimes (often?) form groups; cabals, covens, (corporations?) whatever name they have found that most satisfies the needs of their egos.  Together they engage in such behaviors, sometimes making a ritual out of it. Some have a desire for elaborate settings and costumes in their efforts. I assume this partially serves to convince themselves that they are doing something more sophisticated than the grotesque, inhuman perversions are engaging in.  Often it seems wealth and power are significant aspects of their goals.  Wealth and power can become a narcotic. One which is used to soothe the pain of the emptiness which results from being divorced from the true, ultimately inescapable, essential human spiritual reality.  The knowledge of the fact that there is a pervasive human spiritual reality, that it encompasses all people and has love, mutuality empathy and compassion as integral aspects of it, is an aspect of our reality that those who engage in such horrific behaviors have somehow had inadequate introduction and/or education in. As for the innate awareness of our spiritual reality which all have to some degree, it is this which the abusive behaviors, the rituals, are effective in obfuscating. In the 1960s “Do your own thing.” became a popular phrase. A wise woman who I had the privilege of knowing shared with me the perspective that the phrase is ridiculously unnecessary. Why? Because: try to stop doing your own thing. None of us can, it is as impossible as a thing can be. Likewise, ultimately, we can never separate ourselves from the universal creative spirit that we are all a part of and dwell within.

That is a part of the tragedy accompanying those who are engaging in inhuman activities toward others. Ultimately they are going to have to deal with fully realizing and reconciling those activities as beings within and part of the Divine Creative Spirit. We sometimes can judge ourselves more harshly than others might. What about when the offenses are as grievous as those referred to previously? I think it was with full realization of this that, when experiencing horrible torture and abuse on the cross, Jesus prayed to God and asked: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Today we are facing a world in which people have the free will to engage in denial, contempt for, and perversion of our innate spiritual reality. It’s almost as if two separate realities have emerged: the reality of the predators (abusers) and the reality of those being preyed upon. But to see these two aspects of the socio/economic reality of our world as separate realities is an illusion. It is all taking place within the reality of the Divine Creative Spirit and the laws of our spiritual reality will always ultimately assert themselves. In the meantime, how do we as human beings trying to successfully have lives within this reality deal with such heinous offenses against the minds, bodies and spirits of our brothers and sisters?

One obstacle we face in any efforts to curtail or remedy the occurrances of predatory abuse taking place is the those who are the most “successful” (at what are ultimately suicidally destructive predatory/parasitic behaviors) have realized the need to maintain public personas that inspire respect, sometimes even admiration. In part this is defensive camoflage, but it also is often necessary for abusers to put in place to be able to access their victims or the positions of power they need to carry out their abusive schemes.  History shows us though that sooner or later awareness of the reality around the abuses taking place, abuses experienced by the target popuations and their loved ones begins to grow. When this happens whatever illusions the predatory abusers have put in place to try to conceal their true practices are gradually seen through.   Oppression of the human spirit is a losing proposition. 

 We can see that process taking place in some of the major societal upheavals of the past two hundred and fifty years. The American revolution, the French revolution, the Communist revolutions in Russia, China and Cuba and many more are some extreme examples of what can happen when an abused population becomes activated against the abuse and abusers.  However, we can also learn from these events that the revolutionaries in all these cases themselves were not immune from the sickness of mind and spirit which had so pervaded those who they were rebelling against. It’s not that revolutions with just causes always result in a new, more equitable, enduring better world.  What we can learn from these events is that regrettably, too often put in a position to be able to see a way to grab them, human beings are too often all too quick to be infected with a lust for wealth and power.  Too often a repeat of the culture of “haves” and “have nots” is what emerges and the cycle begins again. 

This is something that has happened so often in human history one might believe that it is an inescapable human failing.  It isn’t.  One criterion that is always in place when such repetition occurs is that the people involved are ignorant enough of the true nature of our spiritual reality that they are susceptible to becoming overly enamored of the enticements of material pleasures.  It’s not that material pleasures are categorically bad or evil, they aren’t.  But just as an individual can overindulge in the pleasures of life and lose sight of taking care of their spiritual and physical health in the process, the same can happen with groups of people, with cultures. The mindset, the spiritual disease, of craving unlimited acquisition without proper regard for the wellbeing of others can be as contagious as any physical disease that there is.  As we can see by conditions in the world today, it can become a pandemic which infects even the people who are most negatively affected by it.  It shouldn’t be too surprising though, the predators actively seek to encourage a “prey aspiring to predator”, attitude among the general population.  They use the media to portray extravagant wealth as the key to a happy life, the key to heaven on Earth.  They want the general population to envy them, idolize them, to want to emulate them. To be infected with an obsession with materialism.  They desire that the general population be perpetually blinded to the reality that there is any other way. Particularly a way that nourishes and sustains the life and spirit of all who work at it. A way that does not require inhumanly preying upon the lives of others in order to truly enjoy the wonders, the blessings of life on this planet.    

It is such a profound truth that it bears repeating:  Oppression of the human spirit is a losing proposition. Ultimately that is true for every person on Earth or anywhere else.  A human spirit may be crushed, but like what looks like dead, dry grass after a drought, give it some love and care and it will spring back, vibrant, vital, dynamic. If, by design or default, you work at oppressing others, you are working toward your own eventual demise.  If you are successful at oppressing others you are defeating yourself because the actions involved in the acquisition of extravagant wealth do not honor nor uphold the true conditions of our spiritual reality.  You are not honoring your own spiritual reality. We are all interconnected and ultimately the quality of our future, of anyone’s future, is tied to the quality of everyone’s future.

The illusion that the material world is all that there is, is often the jumping off place to engaging in all manner of behaviors offensive to and counterproductive of a healthy spirit.  There are people who believe that when it comes to spirituality, we are physical beings who are maybe, or maybe not, in search of a spiritual aspect to our lives.  That is exactly the opposite of our reality!  We are spiritual beings who are incarnated in an effort to establish a physical reality for ourselves.  Why?  If for no other reason because it can be very enjoyable.  But to, by design or default, tacitly agree to accept suffering tomorrow for some pleasure today is an idiot’s bargain.  Especially when it is unnecessary.  With wisdom and proper regard for one another we can have heaven on Earth without putting the wheels in motion to have to suffer farther “down the road”.  All it takes is some wisdom, maturity, humility, occasionally patience, and the willingness to put in the work. The mental and physical work to make it a reality.  It doesn’t even require slaving away to put the work in. It just requires including putting some work in conscientiously and regularly.  As Jesus said: “My yoke is light and my burden is easy.”  He wasn’t talking about a yoke we put on to serve him.  He is referring to the yoke we put on, as he did, to righteously work within our divine spiritual reality. To truly be doing the best for our own happiness and wellbeing. Part of our task is that we do have to put in the work to get to know ourselves, our spiritual reality, as well as our physical reality (which is a creation of our spiritual reality). 

We have to realize that we must speak and honor truth, always.  We need to recognize and embrace the central role that love occupies in a healthy spiritual reality. No more half-truths and manipulative myths.  It also includes educating ourselves around what keeps us physically healthy (because our body is our temple).  Overindulging, as a habit, doesn’t work to keep us healthy.  Think of it as we’re working to learn how to live with enough awareness and love to prevent the heaven we occupy from becoming a hell.  At this point in time, it is not hard to see that we haven’t been doing the best job of it. Especially when we realize that we are our brother’s, and sister’s, keepers.

(c) Alex Max, http://www.fotosearch.com

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Why so many people binge watch TV?

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Personal Development, Science, Spirituality
(C) Alex Max, http://www.fotosearch. com

As with all life forms on planet Earth, we humans are sentient beings. Some would say we humans are at the pinnacle of sentience on this planet. I think, in reality, the jury is still out on that. However, regardless of the relative status of sentience of our species, we all, to a greater or lesser extent, want to know what’s going on around us. Of course we use our eyes and ears to acquire information from our environment. Also we use our body’s sense of touch. And some tune into and work at interpreting the energetic fluctuations and vibrations we feel within ourselves. We sense, intuit, these vibrations. Energetic fluctuations and vibrations which are set in motion by the activities, all the activities, taking place in the world.  Some are more aware of this particular aspect of our sentience than others. But we all are touched by these energetic fluctuations and vibrations and I tend to believe that on some level, maybe deep within an area of our mind which we may seldom visit, our curiosity is piqued by these activities. Further, I tend to believe that generally we are more aware of/tuned in to the energetic ripples set in motion by/and/or occurring with other humans. It would make sense because the frequencies involved would be the ones our bodies and minds are most familiar with. Frequencies we identify with. 

Of course this ambient energetic reality of ours has some messages which are broadcast more strongly than others. The building of pressure within the Earth preceding an earthquake for example. Particularly strong sunspot activity. Thunder and lightning storms, tornadoes, hurricanes. The vibrations being sent by an animal stalking us for whatever reason are ones about which we commonly might hear someone say, I sensed something, turned around, and the animal was moving closer. Or when our child or mate is distressed in the next room. I imagine most people can offer an instance or two of when they “just knew” that something was going on and they followed that feeling. 

For most of our history we as individuals have been able to have some awareness of all of the human activities taking place within our known world. However small or large that world was in our minds at the time. We held in mystery, possibly awe, possibly fear, what may be taking place in faraway, or unseen, places. We constructed yarns, myths, tales of our imaginings of what might be going on outside of the geography or the realm of our understanding. We would sit by the campfire, or fireplace, and entertain each other with these tales. Often morals or warnings would be woven into the tales, or possibly wisdom about hunting, farming or some other aspect of daily life. We took some comfort from filling in the unknown with our own imaginings. Is this just another aspect of the adage that “Nature abhors a vacuum.”?

The fact is we do sense the activities that are taking place in the world around us. We may sense them with our eyes, our ears, our emotions, and always, consciously or below the threshold of our attentive awareness, we feel the sometimes strong and sometimes subtle energetic emanations of all of the activities taking place within our world. This includes the activities taking place among people, animal life, plant life, geologic activity, cosmic activity (sunspots, the energies from the planets, our moon, radiation surges), and manmade electromagnetic activity, such as from communications technology, to name a few. Further, because we are sentient beings, we want to know what the activity which we feel is about. What is our world telling us? Possibly it can be likened somewhat to a spider rushing to see what is pulling on the thread of it’s web, our minds want to understand what forces are pushing or pulling upon our energetic bodies. 

All that being said: Today we are misled and lied to on an ongoing basis by our government along with many industries, banks and others in positions of power about what activities they are involved with. There has never been another time of such rampant deceit in all of recorded human history. Our “mainstream” media may be wholly honest and forthcoming about what went on at the local sporting event last night, however, when it comes to the activities of governments and multi-billion dollar industries we are given pablum if not carefully tailored misinformation. There are many factors which are going together to produce this unfortunate reality. Not the least is of which is the desire of too many occupying high positions government and industry to keep us greatly misinformed or uninformed. It seems we might become nuisances if we know too much. It’s better we continue to drink beer, obsess over sports and celebrities, continue giving up increasing amounts of our worldly wealth, and let them operate behind closed doors. The way they like it. 

So we spend our days living within, being affected by, an energetic stew made up up the resonating frequencies being put in motion by the activities taking place in the world around us and we wonder…what?…why? Where can we find some answers? 

So many turn to the medium that is throwing all manner of human interactions at us, 24/7. Through various TV series and movies we can experience an infinite variety of events, interactions, intellectual and emotional actions and reactions. Sometimes what we are experiencing via the show we are watching resonates with something real inside us. We may then feel enlightened, affirmed, strengthened. It’s like finding a piece to the puzzle. This experience, repeated hundreds of times, little by little, piece by piece can begin to lead us to feel/believe that we are acquiring a larger picture of what is taking place in the real world. Sometimes we are able to learn that the picture developing in our minds from fictional tales does reasonably accurately reflect real-world activity. And sometimes it is woefully lacking.

Such learning via sensory led association can be enjoyable, can at times be enlightening, and can sometimes truly help us feel more connected to the world around us. However, it is a rather pitiful shadow of how a well-rounded education into the reality of life on Earth for intelligent sentient beings might more ideally take place. We should be informed on an ongoing basis by those in governmental offices and agencies who are supposed to be serving the best interests of the nation. We should be taught the truth of how our financial system, medicine, industry work in the world rather than the idealized, sanitized versions so commonly presented today. We should not have to play amateur detectives all the time: painstakingly examining the pieces of reality we can find and then trying to fit them together to try to find a more holistic picture of the real world around us. Because, bottom line, we do want and need to understand our here and now. The known truths of our world should be open before us like clear water in a mountain lake. Pure, pristine and there to benefit from for the effort we put into it. Our souls would find nourishment in such a reality. We would be able make choices in our lives which result in better results within ourselves, our families, our communities. We could make choices which result in our being revitalized and renewed. From the most humble household to the global village of humanity. 

Of course, as Sigmund Freud said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” And not everyone is trying fervently to glean truth from the hints and resonances, planned or unplanned, taking place in the movies and television shows they watch. Sometimes it is just entertainment, or straight-forward education such as in nature shows. But there are many people in the world who are hungry for the truths being denied us by those in positions of governmental and/or industrial power. And those people are often trying to glean what may be gleaned from the scraps thrown us, the shadows, echos, and resonances of truth which occasionally show up, intentionally or unintentionally, in various television shows and movies. 

It’s time all the closed door meetings, secret reports, secret deals and “black ops” became disclosed. It’s time we, the citizens, the builders, the foundations of our communities and nation were honestly informed about the happenings, developments, inventions, and business dealings going on in our world. Only in this way can an honest, viable democracy function.