Tag: Economics

As a species we face the need for a major transition.  Will it happen by design or default?  And if by design, whose?

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality, Sustainability

An article carried on the AP recently has the statement: “…the United States and Japan are expected to agree to changes in the joint defense posture this week as the two nations confront rising threats from North Korea and increasing aggressiveness from China.” These kinds of statements in the news are nothing new. It is common for news reports these days to be about the threats and violence one country, or faction within a country, are inflicting upon another. It is so common that I imagine many adults who were born in the 1990s just take it for granted that this is the inescapable way of the world. It isn’t.

I also know that gratefully there are many people in the world, people of all ages, who have a different vision for the world. One in which headlines can read something like: “A cooperative international effort has eradicated hunger in 99.5% of the world’s population and is expected to have completely eradicated it within another year.” Or “International efforts in education and health care have resulted in greatly improved educational and medical treatment options throughout the world.” Wouldn’t that be nice?

I can remember the world during the Presidency of John F. Kennedy. The optimism, the dreams, the good will being expressed on the international stage. Of course, as we know, people enamored of war and violence killed President Kennedy and effectively turned that optimistic trend around to express what they knew. Toward what they envisioned as the future of the world. And now we’re experiencing their preoccupation with war and violence being expressed in the world.  The world which is our home. 

Is this any way to run a world? No, it isn’t.  Not if a healthy, thriving, worldwide population is the goal.  However, a healthy, thriving worldwide population evidently isn’t the goal of the money/power “elite” that are pulling the economic, political strings in the world.  It is apparently their desire to establish a worldwide political/economic system which is essentially a return to something more closely resembling the medieval feudal system. 

The above pyramid roughly illustrates the composition of the 21st century feudal system that is being engineered into existence.  However, it is not absolute in it’s designations.  For instance, many Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other national heads of state fall in the category of “Lords” rather than being part of the actual international ruling/governing body.  And some with a high level of a particular skill which is needed by the ruling body may find themselves at least honorary members of the “Lords”. 

The following illustration roughly provides a reference point for how the wealth, which is largely manufactured, mined or otherwise produced by the Peasants and Serfs, is ultimately currently being distributed.  The ongoing increase in automated systems which perform labor previously performed by human workers calls to question the need for as large a general population as historically been needed.

Largely by manipulations within the educational, media and entertainment systems, the King and Lords have managed to convince the general public that such an inequitable distribution of wealth is right and proper.  This is no small feat considering all the wealth has either been provided by either the natural composition of the Earth itself or the labor of the Peasants/Serfs.  Often it is a combination of these things combined. 

One inescapable problem with this system (among many) is that people tend to look enviously, lustfully upon the wealth of others.  Possibly the money/power elite behind current events believe that by consolidating world rule under one ruling body, as opposed to many fiefdoms which existed during the medieval times that they will have effectively prevented any serious challenges to their position. However, when there is such a disproportionate distribution of wealth taking place we may be certain that there are persons with resources whose egos, whose greed, will not allow them to accept such conditions.  This ensures that there will be wars, uprisings, revolutions and the like.  Which simultaneously ensures that the conditions which prevent human beings from more fully discovering their innate gifts and abilities will continue to plague humanity.  Too much stress and repeated trauma are not conducive to positive, holistic, human development.

So, do we have any options?  Yes we do if we work together.  We desperately need to largely replace competition with cooperation.  Cooperation between individuals, groups, professions, businesses, nations, and with the Earth itself.  Humankind has ample stress/challenge placed upon us simply by existing upon this Earth at all (yes, a certain amount of stress is healthy/needed.)  We do not need to be continually creating lethal amounts by our own actions.

I love the following illustration.  I’ve used it a lot in my blog articled because it sums it up so graphically.  It beautifully illustrates for us all we need to do to maximize our potential both as individuals and as a species.  To work together so beautifully will, of course, take work.  It will require that we sincerely and diligently work to overcome our prejudices, misunderstandings, relatively trivial and not so trivial differences.  Impossible?  Not at all.  If we want it, really want it, and are willing to work for it, we can have it.  Might it be hard?  Yes, at times it might be.  However, it couldn’t possibly take any more work and resources than we currently devote to violence, killing, war.  Ultimately it very well may be our only long term option as a species.  We are currently in possessions of the weaponry and delivery means to wipe ourselves from our Earthly existence.  To think such a potential exists but that some crazed authoritarian head of state or rogue military officer would never actually employ it is, I think, naive.  We very much need to curb our intolerance, judgementalism, and other ego driven constructs which separate us and pit us against one another.  We very much need to realize our interdependence, our interconnectedness and begin enjoying all blessings which lie in wait for us when we do.

(c) AlexMax http://www.fotosearch.com

The Family Potluck

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Health, Politics, Spirituality
Image (c) AlexMax http://www.fotosearch.com

Maybe some have never experienced a large family potluck. I know many have, however, unfortunately, there are probably some who haven’t. If you’re one of them, I hope as your life proceeds you have the opportunity to do so. A large family potluck provides an excellent analogy for how world economics should operate.

First, everybody should contribute. If not in supplying the food, in helping with the set-up or the clean-up. For the most part though, in my experience, participants either individually or as a component family of the larger family group, bring some kind of food. The result can be the most wonderful, varied, delicious collection of edibles one may have ever seen. A dizzying collection of aromas, colors, textures, and finally tastes. It can be difficult knowing where to start, what to put on one’s plate. Some may pick a selective and limited menu, opting for three or four items. While the plates of others may be a microcosm of the dizzying kaleidoscope of food displayed on the serving table. Large family potlucks can be some of the most wonderful feasts, both of food and of fellowship, that one can experience. As long as everyone is considerate, no one takes an inordinate amount of food, then everyone finds themselves delightfully filled.

But what if someone decided that they were going to take all of one of the items rather than a sampling of many offerings? That would put a crimp in things. Or what if someone said that because they had supplied the dinnerware, all the other family members should pay them an exorbitant fee to participate? Maybe someone in the family invented the fork and they want two-thirds of all the food as recompense? (Maybe they should be sent to their room and told to eat their forks?) Maybe someone is an excellent pastry chef and feels that because they have contributed such excellent pies they should be first in line and allowed to fill five plates; one for now and four for later? Or, maybe the elder family members feel age should determine the serving order and if, after they eat their fill and fill a few take-home containers the younger members can fight over the scraps? Or maybe it’s the reverse and the more youthful, belligerent family members forcibly commandeer the table and to hell with everyone else?

Family potlucks should not, and I venture rarely do, require someone to be the “food police”. Oh, sometimes it may require a parent to admonish a child that, for their own good, they should not just fill up on pie. However, generally everyone recognizes the flow and the balance of the gathering and with appropriate consideration for others, things simply flow smoothly and wonderfully.

Do you see where this is going?

Our unsustainable, schizoid, economic reality.

by kendunning, posted in Community, Economics, Oppression, Personal Development, Politics, Spirituality, Sustainability
Photo: Ken Dunning

I was listening to a program on Public Radio this morning. The reality of refugee children, their usually traumatic, desperate life experiences were being detailed. I suppose, for someone living in the U.S. or another country which refugees are fleeing to, one reaction to such a presentation is to feel good that safer harbor is being offered. That is a good thing. However, that is not an ultimate answer to the problem which the current masses of refugees are a symptom of. The overriding problem is the creation of nonviable, unsafe, violent, often deadly conditions in the countries, cultures, and communities from which the refugees are fleeing.

I’m sure that some analysts can point to a myriad of reasons for the horrible conditions which are manifesting in country after country around the world. The Ukraine is the latest country receiving world wide news attention to be experiencing such a descent into hellish conditions. I am fairly confident that there are other countries, other populations, also experiencing such a descent at this time which are not receiving such wide news coverage.

Analysts can take a great amount of time and energy pointing at historical events, cultural proclivities, past wars, historical animosities, and assigning current ravages to such causation can all seem very convincing, and hopelessly complex and irreconcilable. I’m not saying that there are not real contributing reasons to be found in such analyses. However, whenever there is a population experiencing cultural deterioration and the rise of hellish conditions, there are causative factors which are not so complex, culturally specific, nor so perplexing and/or mysterious. There are a few key factors which are common to all such descents into hell being experienced in countries, and among populations, around the world. These factors are:

  • People who occupy key social/political/economic positions that are infected by a compelling lust for the acquisition of wealth and power.
  • Persons of similar mindset who hope to share in the plunder by adopting a subservient attitude toward those waging campaigns of acquisition of wealth and power upon the world.
  • A callous disregard or contempt for the lives and well-being of the general populations held by those involved in the quest for wealth and power and those that support them.
  • An inability, or unwillingness, on the part of the population to resist the depletion and/or destruction of their communities and lives. Sometimes segments of the population may support the cruelty and violence on the part of those in power toward other segments of the population. Thereby becoming accessories in the descent into hell of their country, and ultimately of themselves. This can be the result of a strategy of divide and conquer being implemented by those in power.
  • A desire to exact retribution/revenge on the part of the persecuted segment of the population toward their persecutors. This opens the door for an ongoing cycle of violence, misery, and hell on Earth.

It is important to note that while material wealth and cultural/political power are the currencies of such situations, the driving forces involved are spiritual. The greed, lust, hate, contempt for the lives of others, that underlie all such situations are symptomatic of a toxic, ailing, spiritual reality. One in which all affected know little or no peace nor harmony with the world around them. In essence, the internal spiritual toxicity and sickness of those in power becomes expressed in the conditions of the countries and populations over which they wield power/authority. It is not required to somehow address all the historical factors for healing to occur. What is required is for the persons in the here-and-now, the present, to recognize the destructive reality consistently brought into the world when people lose sight of the innate spiritual need for people to treat one another as we want to be treated. For people to adopt life oriented, life affirming, egalitarian values and actions. To recognize the pervasive divine spirit of life that flows through and connects all life on Earth and throughout the universe.

It may present as a simple proposition, however, it entails people voluntarily, with dedication and commitment, entering into a monitoring of their own thoughts, feelings, and actions. It requires consciously transforming intentionally or inadvertently destructive and/or malevolent motives into benevolent ones. Reorienting the thinking and behavioral patterns that have engendered the descent into hell. It is imminently possible, it does require commitment, dedication and work. I would suggest to anyone entering into that discipline, that a place to start is in recognizing when any thoughts or feelings which entail doing direct or indirect harm to others to take place within your mind then redirect that energy into addressing the provocative issues in a constructive, benevolent manner. What on Earth could be a motive powerful enough to motivate a person to such a reorientation? The realization of what the world can be if humankind can succeed in such a transformation. Studying the works of the saints, prophets, healers, shaman, can help provide material to aide in redefining, reorienting, one’s ingrained, dysfunctional, self-destructive thinking patterns.

So where does the “schizoid” aspect of it all enter in? Contemplate this: in the U.S. and some other Western countries, tax dollars are used, public money, to spend extravagantly on military purposes which often seem to be in support of corporate agendas. Agendas which too often involve killing people and destroying infrastructure in poorer, often Middle Eastern, African, and Asian countries. While there may be some form of industry which takes place as a result, this industry is too often predatory. With a priority on corporate profits the resources, both material and human, of the affected nation are plundered with the nation being left poorer, often fragmented and further traumatized.

“We the People”, via the Government and U.S. corporations allow, subsidize and/or provide weapons or literally are the military force for much, of the murderous destruction that is taking place in the world. Then we have fund raisers and charities and offer refuge to the hapless victims of the enterprises of those enterprises. Band aid responses to sledgehammer blows. If that isn’t schizoid nothing is. However, then we the citizens of the countries in which are home to the persons, corporations, who are the actual driving forces behind all the carnage, the principle profiteers of the plundering and carnage taking place, may feel resentment to the refugees of that plunder and carnage. A resentment born of the perception of increasingly scarce resources going toward foreigners who have not earned those resources.

Often the general populations of the U.S. and other involved Western countries may have an apathetic attitude toward it all, or even support the carnage. Usually while under the trance of the professionally thought out, compelling narratives, those most directly involved and profiting from the carnage are broadcasting. And it gets even worse, The very same people and corporations that are driving and profiting from the aforementioned carnage are also driving and profiting from the policies and practices which are creating the aforementioned increasing scarcity of housing, jobs and other resources in the U.S. and other involved Western Countries.

Most of the work being done to support these wealth and power driven individuals and corporations is being done by people whose own lives, or those of their children, grandchildren are, or will be, negatively affected by the fruits of their labors. It is as irrational a situation as could exist.

We, the people of the world, need to come to our senses, stop aiding and abetting the madness, and treat each other fairly, with understanding and compassion.

News from the battlefront…

by kendunning, posted in Covid-19, Health, Healthcare, Medicine, Science, Vaccines

What Dr. David Martin has to share is not good news. It is not what most people want to hear. However, the salient question is “is it true”? While truth stands whether or not anyone chooses to believe it, as individuals we all make our own decisions on what we believe or don’t believe. In the important, worldwide, discussions around COVID and the mRNA vaccines I hope you will take the time to investigate what is being put forward by doctors and scientists on both sides of the discussion.

I am dedicating this post to expanding the viewership of this interview of Dr. David Martin. It is approximately 1 hr. in length. I hope you will view it and consider/research the assertions made within it.

An interview on the current lawsuit in the U.S. regarding the COVID/VAX campaign.

More information on mRNA writing itself into the DNA:

Pfizer mRNA vaccine goes into liver and changes into DNA, Swedish study finds

Doctors explaining the Swedish discovery on a talk show.

How can the human culture, as a whole, establish and sustain dynamic viability?

by kendunning, posted in Community, Economics, Politics, Science, Spirituality, Sustainability
Why do I use Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs so often in my articles? Because it informs us of a concept key to a successful life as a person or for a culture.

We are facing what happens when we, as a culture, do not manage our Earthly resources in the same manner our bodies internally manage resources. We have allowed individual people and small groups to acquire inordinate amounts of wealth which they are now using to impose their whimsical ideas of what humanity should do, and be, upon the world at large. They routinely ignore the knowledge which we, as a species, have acquired over centuries regarding how we can manage our resources to create and sustain a dynamic, vital, human culture on this planet.

Yet, if they are determined to control humanity, how can they not ignore it? The knowledge base we as a species have collectively accumulated is so immense no single individual, nor small group, even with the most advanced computer systems in the world, can effectively draw on our knowledge base and appropriately apply it within all the various localities. How can a single individual or small group take into consideration all of the variables which exist, or can emerge, in all of the people or communities? It takes all of us, or at least the vast majority of us, working together with the intention of cooperatively applying our knowledge, not our dogma nor individual fondest wishes; our knowledge, to make such a reality come into being.

It takes humans working together. We need the participation of all people who, collectively, have taken the time to become well informed within one or more of the various areas of knowledge. Areas of knowledge which apply to human wellbeing. We need people who have the capacity to “read” the fine points, the subtle cues, of both human reality and the contextual reality of their environment. We need people who are invested in, who realize their innate investment in, responding to our personal, social and industrial needs. It takes cooperatively communicating, sharing, listening, analyzing, considering the information available. We need to be creating interacting networks of caring people who share the same goal: the wellbeing of all of humanity and life on Earth. We need to look to our own bodies and in doing so realize we are looking at a basic model of how a complex organism can successfully organize and operate around meeting it’s needs.

Doing this with the proper understanding and regard for our shared basic needs, and recognizing that as human beings we also have higher order needs which we must individually pursue, we can realize the potentials of our existence which currently too often go unrealized. We must keep in mind that no single human’s desires, nor small group’s desires, must be allowed to usurp or sabotage the management of resources for the meeting of the basic needs of the entirety of our human culture.

In order for humanity to survive, we must, without situational exceptions, pursue and express truth.

In his farewell address to the nation, President Dwight Eisenhower cautioned us: “…we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” We need to heed his warning and expand it to individuals and any small groups. We now can see that it is by the acquisition of inordinate wealth that unwarranted influence is acquired.

Egalitarianism vs. Socialism (vs. Capitalism)

by kendunning, posted in Community, Economics, Politics, Socialism/Capitalism

This is a brief examination of the essence of the concepts of egalitarianism and socialism. While capitalism is mentioned, I think most people are all too aware of what capitalism is and how it is playing out in our world. I am very confident that, in the world today, there are many people who claim to want a socialist society when, in reality, the concept they have in their mind is of a more egalitarian society. In 20/20 hindsight, I know I have made that semantic error. Words are powerful. Using the correct term to accurately express the concept we have in our mind is important. I think we often fall into the error of the misuse of a term, especially when that misuse is common around us.

According to Merriam-Webster, “egalitarian” is defined as:

“: asserting, promoting, or marked by egalitarianism“.

Egalitarianism is defined as:

“1: a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs

2: a social philosophy advocating the removal of inequalities among people”

I think, when a lot of people use the word “socialism”, the above qualities are actually what they have in their mind. One other notable aspect which I think often accompanies the use of the word “socialism”, is that when thinking of increased equality, it is common for a person to be thinking only in terms of the rewards, the benefits, available within a society. True equality also means sharing in the work involved in developing and maintaining a society. There is much needed, in many different areas, to maintain a healthy society. Everything from picking up the trash on the side of the road, to brain surgery. It all matters. There cannot be viable equality in a society in which some only receive, or in which some only give. The imbalance will cause the society to topple. It’s such a simple principle, yet one that is so often overlooked: imbalance engenders instability which can, and will, result in a toppling.

All that being said, Merriam-Webster’s definition of socialism is as follows:

“1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property

b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done”

I do not believe that this is what most people today who are using the term “socialist” or “socialistic” have in mind. I have a great deal of confidence that most people in the United States who use this term do not have “no private property” in mind. I know I don’t. I want to be able to leave my home in the morning and return to find it is still my home. The same with my car, tools, and essential personal property. On the other hand, sometimes working and contributing together to see that essential goods and services are available to all is a very good thing. Such a method is used widely to provide schools, police, fire fighter, and emergency response services. There are more essential goods and services which using a similar societal/cooperative approach in the provision of, could stand to benefit humanity greatly. That is another topic, not for this article.

It seems to me that the common use of the term “socialism” in the United States is a reaction to the extreme economic imbalance which is only increasing under the current under-regulated capitalistic economic system. In every city, I venture every town, in the United States today we see people being marginalized. People are experiencing their needs going unmet, often not for a lack of actively contributing to the wellbeing of their community. We are seeing the end result of allowing the predatory reality, which is a purely capitalist system, unfettered by adequate social responsibility and concerns, to determine our economic reality. However, in contrast to egalitarianism, socialism opens the door just as wide as capitalism does to an extreme imbalance in economic reality and political power. In putting all property in the hands of the governmental body, it puts great temptation in front of those holding high office within the government.

A reality we perpetually face is that any system is ultimately going to be as viable and sustainable as those in power opt to make it, or not.

I recommend those using the term “socialism”, as an alternative to “capitalism”, more closely examine it’s definition. Then examine the definition of “egalitarian”. Words matter. What term more accurately describes the reality you want to see emerge in the world?

It is time to remember our humanity.

by kendunning, posted in Community, Covid-19, Healthcare, Integrity, Medicine, Politics, Vaccines
Image (c) AlexMax http://www.fotosearch.com

Over the past 6+ decades “our” Federal Government has lied to us about the JFK and RFK assassinations. Also, the Vietnam war, the Oklahoma City Bombing, the first WTC bombing, MK Ultra, UFO’s, 9/11, WMD’s in Iraq, and more. Why are so many people so willing to blindly accept that we are getting the truth about COVID and the “vaccines”? To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a time, nor a set of issues, when so many qualified, independent, professionals have felt compelled to speak out against what the Government and “mainstream” media are presenting to us. Professionals from various medical, biological, other scientific and legal disciplines are putting their professional credibility, their livelihoods, on the line to speak out.

What is the reason for the “tunnel vision” that has gripped so many educated, caring people? The “masses” have blindly followed the directives to destroy livelihoods, to impose isolation, to deprive youth of educational opportunities, to witness dramatic increases in poverty, depression and suicides. To be complicit in coercing neighbors to be injected with an experimental substance which those people did not want inside their bodies. All this based in fear of a disease, which, if left totally untreated, has a 99.9% + survival rate. If the WHO had not unilaterally redefined the term “pandemic”, from it’s traditional meaning, during the time of the Swine Flu, what is going on would not be a “pandemic”.

It is time to remember our humanity, our individuality. It’s time to stop trying to force our own health care decisions upon everyone. The value and necessity of individualized care has been a standard within the medical field for some time. Prior to being “vaccinated” or treated for COVID, are people being truly given the benefit of informed consent? Are the options which are recognized and utilized with success in other countries being made available? To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a time when those at the top of the pyramid of the medical, political and media establishment in the United States have worked so diligently to keep accurate information about a disease, and about viable treatment options, away from the general public. And there has never been a time when the American public has been so amenable to such censorship.

It’s time we recall our humanity. It’s time we remember that while we all are of essentially the same biology, within the basic similarity there are many significant differences. Differences which have come about via genetics, injuries, and/or exposures to a variety of experiences. Some of these individual differences can have a determination upon how various medical treatments and pharmaceuticals affect us. That is an essential reality of our human experience. Is it something we are ready to cavalierly dismiss in deference to…what…corporate profits?

The world is in turmoil. What can we do?

by kendunning, posted in Community, Covid-19, Health, Healthcare, Medicine, Politics, Science, Vaccines

Much of what’s taking place in the world today has been made possible by amazing communication technologies. While these technologies bring much of positive value to the world, as with so many other developments, they also offer those with dishonorable motives new avenues through which to prey upon communities. The latter application of these technologies has reached such proportion, If I wasn’t seeing it happen, I’m not sure I would have believed it to be possible. I grieve that it is.

I was born in 1950. I remember the U.S. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. I remember what I saw as a child of life in those times. I remember the post WWII mind set which was predominant in those days in the midwestern United States. There was an undercurrent of optimism, positivity. Diseases were being conquered, diplomacy, rather than war, occupied the headlines. People felt good that tyranny, authoritarianism, genocide, had been defeated. As is all too clear now, the world wasn’t as free of some of these human problems as many believed.

It’s not that everything was ideal, not at all. There were (and sadly still are) issues of ignorance, misunderstanding, fear, hatred, between people of differing races and religions. There were the major rifts between the nations identifying with capitalism and those identifying with communism. However, during WWII, people from many nations, nations with histories of distrust, antagonism, had pulled together to defeat a common enemy. There was optimism that the common values which had surfaced during the war could be built upon to establish lasting peaceful relationships. It was a time of the belief in unlimited possibilities for a better world.

What is absolutely apparent now, is that those who perceived the possibilities for improving the conditions of life for all people, weren’t the only ones seeing unlimited possibilities. There were those who saw the potential of using the new technologies, the developments in transportation, communication, psychology, medicine, and other disciplines, as tools for plunder. Rather than embracing the opportunities to engage in massive development, to facilitate improvements for the common good, they saw, and continue to see, human deficits through the lens of exploitation. Not as areas of need to be addressed with pervasive development and education, but as openings to be exploited in order to establish themselves in predatory positions of power within the systems of the world.

It is apparent now, that post WWII, those seeking personal wealth and power have been working, manipulating public perception. Often co-opting the very symbols which had represented the defeat of tyranny, authoritarianism and inhuman behaviors. They employ words and symbols which once stirred the most positive motives within people to obfuscate and shield their predatory agendas. One of the first major coups these people won was, via magazines, television, and other media, establishing the idea of unrestrained pursuit of personal wealth as a positive primary value in the psyche of people around the world. Once that lie, a lie which ignores basic values necessary to maintaining both healthy individuals and healthy cultures, was pervasively established in the minds of the population, the door to pandemonium was opened.

Competitive economics establishes a system in which those at the top have the distinct advantage. The oppressive, sometimes murderous, methods used to maintain and expand the wealth of those at the top become just the methods of “business as usual”. After all, it’s what you would do if you had all that money? Isn’t it? It’s the value system the media repeatedly portrays as the way of the world. And many, especially those who have never been exposed to something different, simply assume that impression to be the global, inescapable reality.

Abraham Maslow provided us with a working framework, a skeleton, within which it is possible to “flesh out” not only healthy, thriving individuals, also healthy, thriving cultures.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

How do we know what is needed to “flesh out”, to establish a viable, worldwide, thriving human culture? We have the findings of the work done in many scientific disciplines over many centuries to guide us. Psychology, sociology, medicine, agriculture, engineering, all of these disciplines, and more, hold information which provides the necessary answers. There are the developments in science and the arts which provide much instruction for the establishment and maintenance of a healthful, thriving human culture. There are answer available to us to the problems of housing, health, energy, pollution, and more. Sometimes these answers go unused because they interfere with the profit motive of those in positions of power. And we accept it because the culture of competitive economics has become normalized.

The thing is, we have got the tools we need to establish a world in which people of many different backgrounds can live together as vital aspects of our world ecology, interacting and enhancing each other’s experience of life. What is missing is the focus to make it happen. I would have said the “will” to make it happen, but I believe that will is present, inside every living human being. Sometimes it is dormant, sometimes it has been covered in so much pain and trauma, so many lies and misdirections, that it expresses itself in twisted, destructive ways. But it is there.

As a teacher of mine once said: “Life takes work, it’s death that’s easy. Just do nothing and you will die.”

All people emanate from and are inextricably a part of the Divine Creative Spirit. This aspect of our existence is represented by the golden circle in the center in the diagram above. The next area, the circle which surrounds the center circle, is the “Worldly Persona” which is the identity the rest of world knows us by. It is defined by our words and deeds which are observable to the rest of the people in the world. It is this persona that is the product of the process described below. Our persona reflects the sum total of our worldly experiences, desires and decisions.

There are no “bad people”, there are no “good people”, there are only people. What makes the difference between tyrants such as Adolf Hitler, Mary I of England, or Pol Pot and revered personalies such as Gautama Buddha, St. Teresa of Calcutta, or Martin Luther King Jr.? It is not some mysterious, unknown variables. The difference lies in the sum total of their individual experiences (education, indoctrination, relationships, interactions), their desires, and their decisions. It is important to note here that the “sum total” may include the experiences, desires and decisions of many lifetimes. Also that biology and/or injuries can play a major role in the development of an individual’s persona.

However, we are thinking beings with free will. We have the potential to change. We can mold not only ourselves, but the world we live in. If we decide we desire a better, more harmonious, world, and we act upon that desire, we can bring that vision to reality. It may take time, but the sooner we start, the sooner we arrive.

With the determination to do so, bitterness can be transmuted to understanding. Fear and hatred can be transmuted to caring and love. However, we must stay aware that the opposite is also true. Caring and love, with enough abuse and trauma, especially when accompanied by input and reinforcement to do so, can be replaced with hatred and cruelty. We must end the mistreatment, the cruelties we impose upon one another. We must see each other as being the children of the same Creator, which we are. As we now know, we are all inextricably interconnected. Isn’t it time we established the positive, harmonious, joyful, reality we all, at the core of our being, long for?

In summation, while we all can, at times, be negatively affected by the world around us, through enlightenment, education, understanding, we can transmute negative impulses into constructive actions. We can play a more positively determinate role within our own lives, within our relationships, and within the world around us.

At this time, around the world, we are being advised by individuals and agencies, which wield substantial worldly power, to be fearful. We are being urged, coerced, to be compliant, to follow the instructions we’re being given. Instructions which appeal to the fear the media and corporate powers are largely responsible for instilling. In their positions of power within the media, the corporate powers are wielding an incredible ability of censorship over information. They routinely do not publish truths which disagree with, which dispute the predatory agendas they are implementing. A predominant one at this time is the COVID/”vaccine” agenda. Any information which contradicts the fear based agenda they are pushing, is either censored in corporate media, or, if it is referred to, it is done so in such a way as to discredit that information.

A collection of various and sometimes overlapping people have introduced a previously unknown disease into the world apparently in the pursuit of a homicidal, special interest, agenda. And they may introduce more. They are offering toxic, death-dealing treatments and doing all they can to repress the knowledge of the existence of safe, effective treatments. And throughout it all, they are engineering the flow of vast amounts of the world’s wealth into their hands. Yet we can make the decision to comply with this heinous agenda, or not. We have the final decision in whether or not to allow the pollution of our minds and spirits with the fear and hate they are promoting. And, we have the final decision whether or not to allow the pollution of our bodies with the toxic substances they are pushing.

Changing the focus back to our inherent divine origin and heritage, even when we are being motivated by fear, anger, hatred, even then, through the filters of our mind which are active at that time, we are expressing the innate desire for life which is present within all of us. However, if we desire a more harmonious, healthful, joyful life, we need to discipline ourselves to refrain from expressions which lead to more harm, more trauma, more fear, anger and hatred in the world. While we cannot ignore such emotions when they are present, we must learn to see through to the primary, underlying reality of the desire for life which is there. We must learn to see it not only within ourselves, but in “the other”. When we can do that, and when we embrace the values of negotiation, understanding, mutuality, and the desire for resolutions which enhance the harmony of human interactions, we can have a genuine heaven on Earth.

All through my life I have heard skeptics, cynics, say that such a thing is “too idealistic”, not practical, not possible. Even they, in doing so, inadvertently acknowledge the ideal nature of such thinking. If we aren’t devoting our time and energies toward seeking and establishing the ideal, what are we spending them on? Seeking and establishing the mediocre? The dysfunctional? Or are we just letting entropy, the slow slide into dissolution, be our guiding motive?

Ultimately, whether in the United States or someplace else in the world at large, the term coined in the U.S. by the authors of the Declaration of Independence, “We the People“, represents a reality which can stop tyrannical abuses and elevate humanity. It is within our individual decisions, that we collectively possess the ability to determine the direction this period of history will follow.

The good news is that we can beat this. The bad news is rather than beating it, we’re committing cultural suicide.

by kendunning, posted in Community, Covid-19, Healthcare, Medicine, Politics

The media’s use of descriptors such as “surge”, “breakout”, “runs rampant”, would lead a person to believe that people are succumbing to COVID in incredibly large numbers.   

Take a breath. 

Here are some figures from the mainstream sources who claim to be tracking COVID.  Let’s start with getting some perspective, the population of the U.S. is officially, as of today, August 31, 2021, is 328,240,000.  That is three hundred twenty-eight million, two hundred and forty thousand people.  That is us, the residents of the United States of America.  Among us, cumulatively from the beginning of COVID hitting our shores, 39,343,501 of us are confirmed as having, at some point, contracted COVID.  That is 0.1198% of us as a whole.  In reality, a very small percentage of us.  Further, this isn’t the number of people who got so sick that hospitalization was needed, this is just confirmed cases.  Of this small percentage of us who did contract a confirmed case of COVID, just slightly more than one/tenth of one percent, 1.647%, or 648,051 of us, officially died of COVID.  That means that out of the entire population of us, 0.00197% of us have died of COVID. Or less than two one-thousandths of a percent.  When it comes to the media’s sensationalism of COVID, we are being sold a tempest in a teapot. 

Are around six hundred and fifty thousand deaths from COVID a good thing?  No.  But is it a catastrophe that warrants closing small businesses, does it warrant millions of people losing jobs, incomes, housing, educational opportunities?  Does it warrant the rise in depression, addiction and suicides which are taking place in the nation?  Does it warrant the loss of individual rights which is taking place throughout the U.S.?  I don’t think there’s any question that countless more lives have been hit with tragedy due to the mandates which President Biden, Anthony Fauci and numerous Governors have waged than have been tragically affected by COVID. 

Time to get some perspective and restore the freedoms, of livelihood, of education, even of the ability to choose the medications we, as individuals, would like to use if we face infection.  Right now the U.S. has the highest mortality rate, small as it is, from COVID from than most, if not all, other countries in the world.  Many other countries, India for one, have benefited greatly from the use of Ivermectin, others are reporting positive results with Hydroxychloroquine.  In the U.S. it seems these effective medications are being withheld. Recently I calculated the mortality rate within ten countries using the official figures. I see very little difference in the rate whether a country has vaccinated a lot, or a little, of their population. As mentioned above, the U.S. has the worst rate of those I checked. I invite you to check a few more. Post your results in the comments to this post.

So here we are, the good news is we’re facing a very beatable challenge.  The bad news is we’re being misled into believing it’s much more virulent than it is and that it is an all but unbeatable challenge. The draconian measures being put forward by those in positions of political power like being (figuratively) asked to cut off our limbs as a precaution, and we’re doing it.  This is much more related to the power of the press than the reality of COVID.

The Lifeguard Principle: What it is, what is it good for, how to make friends with it.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Personal Development, Psychology, Science, Spirituality

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(c) AlexMax http://www.fotosearch.com

I am realizing that many of us, me included, have a tendency to readily notice and respond to the things in the world that are blatantly wrong, or problematic, and that this may consequently mean we simultaneously are not giving enough attention to the things that are right. 

I first became aware of this tendency decades ago when I worked a couple summers as a lifeguard.  When I found myself in the lifeguard chair, looking at a large, crowded pool with lots of noise and activity, I had a moment of doubt.  I wondered how in the world am I going to see someone in trouble in this chaos?  I asked an older lifeguard that question and he replied that I just needed to keep my eyes on the pool and if someone got into trouble, I’d see it.  Sounds too simple, right?  It isn’t.  As it turns out our attention is drawn to the things that aren’t right.  Whether it is inconsistencies, differences in movement, sometimes the obvious shout for “help”, or some other more esoteric phenomenon, it is a reliably real thing.  I would always find my attention drawn to someone in trouble.  Sometimes a few seconds before they were actually experiencing the distress.  Of course it is also true that my mindset, my internal desire, was to see such occurrences.  That may be a part of the function at work.  I began calling this tendency to have our attention drawn to what is wrong “the lifeguard principle”.

While paying attention and looking for trouble was an explicit part of that job, I think it is something we all do to a greater or lesser extent.  It definitely is a survival trait in times of threat.  Maybe it’s a carry over from the days when we were walking through forests or jungles and we had to be aware of our surroundings to avoid being eaten.  It definitely is a behavior that is necessary in times of warfare, one person, gang, tribe, nation, attacking another.  I believe it is universal among humankind.   For those interested in looking into such things, there is some correlate in the functioning of our “exciting” and “calming” neurotransmitters.  Our bodies have evolved in a way that we deplete our “calming” neurotransmitters well before we are in danger of running out of “exciters”.  I suppose that would help keep us from just lying down and being eaten when being chased by a tiger.  But now, in the year 2020, for many if not most of us, the dynamics we face in our day to day lives are not quite the same as they have been through much our existence.

It’s not that there still aren’t some acute dangers in the world; in some places much more than others.  However, the dangers most of us face in developed nations are more of a chronic nature.  We don’t get pounced on and quickly killed and eaten by a tiger, we get killed more gradually by being slowly consumed by worries, fears, anxieties, and insecurities.  Just as the nature of the threats has changed over time, our reactions to the threats we’re facing needs to change also.  A sudden, pervasive startle, fight or flight reaction to all the, sometimes subtle, threats an average person may face during their day would certainly result in a person becoming overly stressed, burned out, and significantly more at risk for a plethora of diseases.

Sometimes we need to intervene in what direction our “autopilot” chooses and become more reasoned with our reactions to life’s events.  Having an innate sensitivity to things that are “wrong” in our environment can be part of an important survival system.  Our “lifeguard principle” exists for just that purpose, to help guard our lives.  This brings to my mind a book by Gavin De Becker:  “The Gift of Fear”.  It addresses the important role fear can and does play in our lives.  However, with both the “lifeguard principle” and “The Gift of Fear”, whether or not these innate aspects of our being serve us or sabotage us depends entirely on how we react to the input we receive from them.

In our complex, more populated, human culture primitive responses to what are often sophisticated situations become less and less viable.  As a culture, we need to get way more invested in learning more about what it is to be human and what we inherently, and universally, require to establish and maintain healthy, vital, lives.  When we learn to respond to human, social, problems in a manner based in seeking to solve those problems on by seeing needs met and lives stabilized, it will benefit us greatly.  We are going to find ourselves in a thriving, vibrant world such as we have only had glimpses of, during a few periods of time in the past 150 years.

Within the current available knowledge from the fields of psychology, sociology, physiology, and spirituality, we have all we need to have more than a good start.  It only requires our will and determination to do so.