Tag: Spirituality

The three-body problem explains a great deal of why Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or any serious third-party candidate, experiences considerable resistance from the “Establishment”.

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

First, let me define my terminology.  By “Establishment” I mean those entrenched, politically and financially powerful people who jealously guard those aspects of the status-quo which are structured to serve their desires for the ongoing or increased acquisition of worldly wealth and power.  Other terms which I’ve heard used to describe elements of this segment of the world’s population are:  the military-industrial complex, the oligarchy, the 1/10th of 1 percenters, and I’m sure there are other terms used especially in different countries.  Since WWII this segment of the population has done exactly what President Eisenhower warned us about in his 1961 farewell address :  “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience…[while] we recognize the imperative need for this development…We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”  Now, from the vantage point of the 21st century, we can say with confidence that President Eisenhower had 20/20 foresight on this issue. 

How does a segment of the population who all have similar, and often overlapping, interests in seeing certain aspects of the world’s socio-economic condition remain at the current status-quo go about accomplishing their goal?  In a word:  control.  Control the banks, the media, elected and unelected officials holding key governmental offices, people holding key leadership positions within the military, the major industries including the energy industry.  Control every thing you can that has to do with the economic, political and the religious/spiritual aspects of public life.  And then, every so often, engage in an exercise in which you make behavioral demands upon the general public using rationales which have no solid foundation in reality just to get the public used to accepting orders blindly.  New technologies make possible levels of monitoring of the behaviors of private citizens which would have been impossible in the 1960’s. 

However, even with the utility of modern surveillance technologies, the ability to sway public opinion using the mainstream media and exotic chemical and electromagnetic technologies, the ability to manipulate what does and does not get into school textbooks, with all this and more, there still are limits on how much any person or group of people, no matter how wealthy or influential, are able to control the masses of humanity.  Within any group of people there are variables of experiences, education, and interests which can serve to foil external attempts to overly control a large population. Which brings us to the three-body problem.

In physics it is exponentially harder to predict the movement of three masses orbiting each other than it is to predict the movement of two masses orbiting each other.  These challenges are known, respectively, as the three-body problem and the two-body problem.  We can learn from this that even when we are talking about objects which are inanimate mass, there are a variety of forces which can come into play.   trying to predict the behavior of three objects orbiting each other is very difficult.  Co-Pilot AI has these things to say regarding the three-body problem:  “…while the two-body problem is a straightforward calculation, the three-body problem requires complex numerical simulations and does not have a one-size-fits-all solution, making it exponentially harder to predict.”  

So, if coming up with a long-term prediction of the movements of three masses orbiting each other is very hard if not impossible, if your task is to predict the movement of masses over an extended period of time wouldn’t you appreciate it if you could trim the problem down from three to only two masses?  Then, imagine how much harder even the two-body problem becomes if you’re dealing with human beings rather than inanimate objects.  Inanimate objects whose essential characteristics are fixed and predictable. 

With any two or more humans variations within their internal ecology and worldview are not only possible they are likely if not inevitable. Also changes to those conditions can and do occur at any given moment.  Such variations, especially spontaneous changes within those variations, produce unpredictable independent variables: chaos.   We can safely say that it is exponentially more complex to predict, never mind control, the movements of three people as opposed to only two. 

When the “body” in question is group of people, such as a political party, then any attempt at predicting or controlling that body is going to depend largely upon having one or more key “influencers” within the group. Even then, factors beyond the control of those who wish to exert it can enter in and confound things.  

Think about it, if a relatively small, covert group of people have invested countless hours of research, a great deal of financial investment and managed to acquire great power and influence within not just one, but two major political parties, how willing would you be to simply surrender that control? Especially if the exercise of power and influence within those two parties translated into enormous power and influence within the involved nation. What the realities inherent in three-body problem ensure is that if a third viable political party emerges within that system you better be prepared to expend exponentially greater amounts of human and financial resources if you want to maintain the same degree of power and influence which you have become accustomed to, For those wishing to control the system I don’t think it would be overstating things to say that is a monumental problem. When the system in question is the electoral and political system of the United States, I submit that for the average citizen desiring the system to work in the manner we have been taught that it is supposed to, the three-body problem becomes a great blessing.

This is the reality facing the people and the American political process at this time. Increasingly over the past few decades we have seen the Presidential election process become harder and harder for any aspiring candidate who is outside the mainstream political current to become a viable candidate for the Presidency or any elected position on the Federal level. Two major events which helped bring about this reality one is the repeal of the fairness doctrine of the Federal Communications Commission which became a policy in 1949. This doctrine “…was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that fairly reflected differing viewpoints.”, Wikipedia. While there were controversies which emerged regarding the doctrine, rather than amending it where it may have rightfully required doing so, in 1987 the decsion was made within the FCC to abolish it. This decision made coverage by the media of elections, candidates and their views something totally up to the discretion of whoever controlled any particular media outlet. What this translates into in today’s reality of increasingly monopolized big corporation media is that we hear what they want us to hear and we see what they want us to see. What we are seeing is that the mainstream media is all but completely ignoring RFK Jr.’s candidacy. Further that whenever there is some mention of his positions it is usually in the form of pejoratives and cartoons which ridicule but never explain. This prejudiced closed system fighting to maintain a dominance over our political reality is a manifestation of what President Eisenhower was warning us about in his farewell address.

The second major event which has assisted in increasing the control a relative few are wielding within the U.S. Presidential/Congressional election process was the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling on the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC). This ruling in essence turned the possibility of running a campaign to be elected to any Federal office into an exclusive club for the extravagantly wealthy. If a candidate is not extravagantly wealthy, to have any chance of success at all it is all but required that they have sufficient backing from people who are. These days it seems “donating” extravagant funds into any candidate’s campaign coffers is akin to investing in that candidate as a business venture. While the emergence of a viable third (fourth, fifth, etc.) party does not in and of itself do away with the Citizens United v. FEC ruling, by negatively affecting the ability of any group to predict and control the total field of candidates running for Federal office it increases the chances that someone with a mindset more sympathetic to the living conditions of average Americans might be elected to office. Which might lead to an effort to see that ruling repealed.

One thing American citizens need to be aware of is that while some or possibly even many of the people who have acquired this “unwarranted influence” are Americans by birth or naturalization, that cannot be said for the totality of those that have done so. Also, whether they are U.S. citizens or not, their actions are not limited in any way to affairs within the United States.  Their agendas and their actions are transnational. 

I would venture that even if RFK Jr’s political aims were largely consistent with the goals of those exercising unwarranted influence his candidacy might well still be regarded as problematic by them.  This is due to the aforementioned three-body problem and the complications inherent in allowing a viable third party to emerge within the American political system.  But RFK Jr.’s stated political aims clearly aren’t all that consistent with the goals of those, again, wielding unwarranted influence within the governmental policies and practices of the United States.  The same could have been (and was) said of the aims of his uncle, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his father Robert F. Kennedy in their political careers.  I, for one, do not want to see the violence that befell these two Kennedy brothers in the 1960’s, or any violence at all, become a reality within the election or political processes in our current time.  We ought to be able to use our reasoning abilities to conceive of and work with positive aims and actions that benefit all of humanity.  To do anything less is to fail, again, to recognize the truth within another, lesser-known quote from President Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address:  “…America’s leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.” 

Lastly, I would like to call attention to the subject of chaos and what it means in regard to the health of the American culture.  First, there are a few different interpretations of the world “chaos”. The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines chaos as: 

“1 a: a state of utter confusion

the blackout caused chaos throughout the city

b: a confused mass or mixture

a chaos of television antennas

2 a often capitalized : a state of things in which chance is supreme

especially : the confused unorganized state of primordial matter before the creation of distinct forms…”

b : the inherent unpredictability in the behavior of a complex natural system (such as the atmosphere, boiling water, or the beating heart)” (My italics.)

I think that quite possibly the average person’s mental image of chaos is something like a scene in a movie in which a 200 ft. tall reptile emerges from the ocean and begins wreaking havoc.  The behavior of the populace is usually quite chaotic in such scenes.  This type of chaos is what is defined in “1 a” above.   

However, I think the best definition for the type of chaos which people who are oriented toward predicting and controlling a governmental, cultural or other human involved situation are facing is that found in “2 b” above.  “Inherent unpredictability” does not lend itself well to attempts at control.  Yet, as stated in the definition, this type of chaos is inherent in the behavior of a complex system. This implies that the behaviors we think of as “chaos” in a complex system are in fact essential aspects of the processes of growth and development within these systems. These “chaotic” behaviors are meant to be present and if curtailed it is at the risk of jeapordizing the natural processes at work up to and including the health, the viability of any living organism.

When we human beings set out to control one aspect of nature or another we have to be aware that any overly intrusive, overly rigid type of control, relative to the nature of the subject of control, is most likely going to have a profound deleterious effect on the thing we are trying to control. One example of this is that if people are compelled to think in a rigidly controlled manner. What we have seen historically is that their creativity is going to suffer for it. Back in the days of the Cold War (approx. 1945-1989) between the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, this was a criticism often levelled at the more rigidly controlled cultures within the Eastern Bloc. A perusal of the music and the art which were being produced within the Western and Eastern Blocs provides a clear reference point on the truth in that criticism. It’s not that no worthwhile music or art was being produced within the Eastern Bloc, however, at the same time the West was enjoying an explosion of creativity in these and many other areas.

In order to have a healthy human culture it is necessary to find a viable balance between structure and freedom. The cultures within the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War obviously went too far down the path of rigid structure. Some might say certain behaviors, such as the Hippie subculture taking place in the Western Bloc went too far toward individual freedom. But I would say that in order to have a healthy, viable human culture we must have the tolerance to allow for the exploration of radical departures from some norms at any given time. However, there is real danger to the health of a culture posed by the extremes of either overly dismissing cultural organization and structure, which is at one end of what might be called a structure-freedom continuum, or to trying to impose a pervasive totalitarian rule on the other.

At this time those with “unwarranted influence” are currently moving us toward an ever-increasing culture of totalitarian control. Citizens United, the criteria for a candidate to be included in the nationally broadcast debates, the monopolization of our national media along with the control/censorship which has attended this development are all serving to restrict not just the number of candidates in a Presidential election, these factors are even determining to a very great extent who is allowed to be among that number. It seems that one of the goals of those moving us toward a totalitarian state is that the common U.S. citizen may have a choice between two candidates but both of those candidates will have been vetted and approved by those controlling the system.

As controls tighten within our culture, every new rule and/or development that limits the freedoms of and/or diminishes the economic health of the general public works to further quash the inherent desire for freedom and creativity within all of humanity.

That is why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s third party bid for the Presidency at this time is such an important thing. Almost regardless of his platform just his presence in the field of viable candidates serves to bring alive the three-body problem on the national political scene. If he is elected that will be a significant step in loosening the controls those with unwarranted influence have imposed and interfering with the imposition of further totalitarian policies. More directly, RFK Jr.’s stated goals include several which further threaten the agendas of those with or seeking unwarranted political/cultural influence.

These things explain a lot about why the Establishment is endeavoring so diligently to consign RFK Jr. to obscurity. The act of denying him traditional Secret Service protection is just one more indicator of the level of threat they perceive in him. Those holding unwarranted influence within the United States have no desire to relinquish any of their ever-tightening political/cultural control. Political/cultural control which is to a significant extent enabled by the predictability and controllability of Presidential and Congressional elections being limited to a two-body problem.

Trust in Government: Do we base it upon Governmental action or inaction?

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

When we in the U.S. have a new President, a new administration, come into office, a lot of people are watching to see what happens.  Will this President and his staff be more or less interested in the well-being, the health of the general populace or will they just be another place holder in the line of succession of Governmental servants of big money?  Of course, every new administration presents something different.  Different positions on the issues of immigration and abortion are two perpetual distractions.  However, since JFK was so brutally removed from office there has been an ongoing movement within Governmental activities toward wars, extravagant military spending, along with legislation and policies most favorable to the wealthiest few among us.  The past few decades have also brought us a number of domestic events, which the official explanations of have raised lingering questions among critical, reasoning, knowledgeable people.  A few such events are the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK, the Sept. 11, 2001 WTC attack.  There are a lot more.

The lack of satisfactory official reports/explanations for such culturally important events, events which have significantly affected the overall culture of our nation and the lives of everyone in it, raises questions about the level of trust we the people should have in those persons putting such questionable explanations forward.  This pattern also raises doubts about the integrity and the agendas of those in positions of high office who do not concern themselves with restoring and/or maintaining the public trust by honestly addressing the many lingering, sound questions.

Which brings me to the main reason I’m writing this.  It is to say that we as responsible, concerned citizens and human beings, in our assessments of the veracity and loyalties of our elected officials, need to look at what they aren’t doing with as much critical awareness as we put into looking at what they are doing.  The things that go undone indicate as much about the agendas and priorities of those in elected office as the things they take action on.

That being said, here are a few of the things clearly not receiving Governmental action.  Items which if addressed would go a long way to indicate to the general public that the agendas and priorities of those in high elected office are consistent with the best interests of the general population.

  1. More stringent, effective prevention of toxic substances in our water, food, air and the merchandise being sold in our stores.
  2. More regulatory control over prices especially in the area of fundamental necessities such as medical care, health insurance, housing, food, utilities.  In general, we should not turn our nation into an anything-goes feeding ground for predatory corporations.
  3. Disclosure of all information relevant to the culturally significant issues of the past and present for which satisfactory, complete and conclusive explanations have not been forthcoming.
  4. The utilization of our national wealth to address domestic issues which reflect a definite and effective prioritization of the health and well-being of the citizens of the United States.  Actions which show a healthy respect for the well-being of the populace in both their aims and the processes used in implementing them. 
  5. A cessation of the practice of retaliatory attacks by Governmental officials and agencies upon whistleblowers who are bringing to light truths regarding covert and illegal conduct on the part of our Governmental officials and agencies.  Conduct which the public should be aware of in order to participate effectively as responsible citizens within our democratic republic. 

We need a Government in which our officials and agencies embody a primary value of service to the general citizenry.  The sanctity of the trust of the general public should be one of the highest priorities within Governmental function.

It is time we address the underlying pandemic of our age.

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Environment, Health, Politics, Psychology, Science, Spirituality, Sustainability, War

We are in the midst of a pandemic. Not COVID nor a new viral concoction those disposed to do so may be devising. It is a pandemic of mental/spiritual origin and effect. The infectious, destructive condition I’m referring to has been with us for millennia. It is a condition, a dis-ease if you will, which leaves many of those affected languishing in the belief that the “physical” world is our primary, if not our only reality. Or, others affected often see fit to engage in overly self-centered, sometimes brutal, schemes for personal gain. Schemes which ignore the damage such thoughts and actions are doing within our underlying spiritual reality. Damage which sooner or later expresses itself within our “physical” reality.

Above I put “physical” in quotation marks because, as with light waves which we can only see a certain portion of the full spectrum of, our physical reality also extends beyond the denser forms and actions we’re all accustomed to dealing with in our day to day lives. It extends into finer, more ethereal, spiritual aspects of our reality which those who are infected with the mental condition leading to the denial of this reality apparently find beyond their perception. Or possibly they have some perception of it but for reasons having to do with their enculturation choose to ignore such perceptions. Yet inescapably we affect and are affected by the finer, more ethereal aspects of our reality.

This condition, which results in a narrow window on our world, is a mental/spiritual condition which many seem to accept as part of the price for being a “good citizen” of a materialistic, competitive culture.  I wonder how many people are receiving treatment both in outpatient and inpatient settings simply because they found themselves perceiving and finding reality and meaning within some of the forms and actions within the more ethereal aspects of our reality? How a person reacts to perceiving things outside the realm of what their culture may regard as normal is often determined by whether or not they primarily regard the world with an attitude of fear or an attitude of faith.

It is when we are able to stretch out our perceptions more fully into the finer, more ethereal/spiritual aspects of our existence, our reality, that we can discover many blessings and abilities which remain out of our reach when too many daily stressors push us into a withdrawn, shut-down state of being. When fear and anxiety are intrusive into our lives, we tend to draw in, to shut down some of the higher functioning parts of our mind, our being. This loss of so much of the potential richness of our lives is one of the cruelest of the collateral damages within a culture of competition.

We see so much cruelty, so much inhumanity resulting from people holding an attitude of fear, avarice, intolerance, that it is easy to be deceived into believing that these ways of relating to the world are the underlying, inescapable reality of our existence on Earth.  They aren’t.  Love is the underlying reality.  However, when unguided by compassion and sound reason, even love can produce perverted, destructive actions. Such as when, as I have seen it expressed, we “love things and use people instead of loving people and using things”.  Or when we love the experience of our own being yet choose to callously disregard the experiences of others.

Creating a culture of fear is relatively easy.  Engage in violence, do things which blatantly and glaringly or subtly and insidiously injure people. Engage in actions which engender distrust.  Use political/economic schemes with armed legions of enforcers to take away and control the goods and freedoms of the general population of entire nations (even your own).  Those involved in the thinking patterns and behaviors which lead to the creation of cultures of fear are following their most self-centered, self-serving impulses with little or no concern for the effects which their actions impose upon, or evoke within others.   

Creating a culture of love, compassion, and understanding is a harder task.  The desire to do so usually is preceded by the awareness that we are all interrelated. For one thing, we are all a part of the environment which all other people live within. However, when we learn more about the energy/spiritual reality of our lives we understand how we are quite literally interconnected on an energetic/spiritual level. Someday I imagine there will books written about the effects each person’s spiritual energy contributes to our spiritual environment. We now know beyond a doubt that groups of people meditating in an area can reduce the crime rate. Manifesting a culture which is an expression of the positive, life-oriented aspects of our underlying spiritual reality requires people to be willing to put the time and effort into understanding themselves and others.  It requires compassion and patience when facing difficult interpersonal situations.  It requires tolerance of different practices and worldviews as long as those practices and worldviews are not inherently harmful to others.  It requires people to have a rock-solid commitment to the well-being of others as well as one’s own.   

Right now we are living in a world in which far too many are suffering under the pestilence of a culture of fear, avarice, intolerance.  Many are reaping the bitter fruits of devoting time and energy into fear, hating and war. Many are reaping the bleak fruits resulting from the personal or cultural allotment of large amounts of human and material resources for the building and acquisition of weapons of destruction.  The more energy, time and resources we pour into these things the more we see war and destruction proliferating around the world.  After all the teachings, the warnings we have had through the ages from saints and prophets about reaping what we sow, this sorry reality should come as no surprise. 

I would rhetorically ask what we should do about it, but the answer is obvious:  we need to start consistently sowing the words and actions which are exactly those which we genuinely would like to have returning to us and our loved ones.  That’s all. 

In the U.S.A. and around the world people are enduring a most grievous wrong.

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

The United States has often been portrayed, and I believe seen by many, as being a nation of individual rights and liberties.  The Bill of Rights (1st ten amendments to the Constitution) were a pretty enlightened and bold action in the face of “Old World” authoritarian monarchies and dictatorships.  The right to freedom of speech, to bear arms, of religion, the protections of the accused in criminal investigations, these all represent a radical departure from the manipulative controls repressive authoritarian regimes routinely seek to impose.  However, as wonderful and enlightened as they are, they fall short in a critical way of addressing possibly the most universal wrong that one individual or group has historically and contemporaneously waged upon another. 

The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence evokes an essential spirit of human desire:   “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Allowing that the author used the word “men” to indicate all human beings, not just those of the male gender, these words evoke a sense of unity. A sense that all people should be embraced within a spirit of kinship and equality.  But again, in a very essential way everything that followed ignored a grievous wrong which some individuals and groups have been imposing upon others for centuries. A wrong that has been practiced so pervasively among people around the world, that it seems to have been accepted, or neglected, even in the enlightened thinking of the 18th century American revolutionaries. 

This is the inherent moral rightfulness of all who contribute their life’s time and energy to the sustaining and advancement of their civilization to reasonably and fairly reap of the benefits of that civilization.  This is not to say that all should benefit equally from the fruits of an endeavor, because in either quality or quantity there undoubtedly are some whose contribution weighs more heavily in the achievement of the fruits of civilization.  However, each and every individual’s most precious contribution is of their life’s time and energy.  Whether it is sweeping floors, washing dishes, planting or harvesting crops, building necessary infrastructure, working in education, providing art and/or entertainment, seeking/understanding/disseminating spiritual truth, serving within the operation of government, serving to protect lives and property, working in the sciences to further human well-being, working in industry to invent and provide needed products, working in the care of others whose young age, illness or infirmity disallows them from engaging in adequate self-care, or any of the other myriad ways individuals engage themselves in the service of community and civilization: those engaging in these works are all significantly contributing to the sustaining and advancing of well-being within their communities and of civilization itself. 

All of us, everyone of us alive on Earth today, has parents, grandparents and further ancestry who have given of their lives’ time and energies in the effort of establishing a viable human civilization here on Earth.  Further, most, if not all, of them held the hope and desire that not only themselves, but that their children and their children’s children should share in the benefits of the civilization they were contributing to.  So why, after all these centuries, after all the work, the strife, the good intentions that have gone into bringing us into our present time and place, aren’t the fruits of humankind’s combined efforts being shared more fully and fairly than they are? 

At this point in time the inequity of the distribution of wealth among humanity is extreme.  Around the world those who have sought after and grasped the reins of industry and government are showing themselves to be consumed by their egos and self-importance to the degree that they apparently hold in contempt the majority of humanity. The very same humanity responsible for the vast majority of the effort which has gone into the production of the wealth they now lay sole claim to.  It is this inequity which is the most grievous wrong which even the enlightened revolutionary thinking of 18th century America overlooked. 

Through the ages those in positions of power, governmental, industrial, even within the academic and religious establishments have imagined and devised myriad rationalizations and schemes to justify and implement their desire to acquire inordinate wealth and power.  The myth of divinely ordained royalty, the creation of religious and other stratified social systems which use fear to achieve compliance from populations. The creation of a global predatory economic system which allows a relative few to control the vast majority of the world’s wealth. Even the withholding of technological developments which would allow greater freedom and well-being to the world’s population. All of these things have contributed to the economic, if not the literal, enslavement of children and adults. These things and more are going on the world today including within the United States. 

Along with the above mentioned actions, those with the mind set to exploit whatever is exploitable are also engaged in the production of toxic products, including food products, and in the disposal of highly toxic waste in ways which are destroying vital natural resources and habitats.  Relative to the degree worldwide pollution is taking place, the world’s recycling programs, while an admirable idea, are in many places weak, if they exist at all. There is a correlation to be drawn between the intellectual/mind toxic pollution which is being generated in the world today and the physical/chemical pollution which happening simultaneously.

These things: lies, greed, exploitation, and pollution, have gone on to a greater or lesser degree for centuries.  However, in the 21st century, technology which allows for the mass dissemination of information, or misinformation, along with advances in transportation technology and weaponry, has exponentially amplified the abilities of those with the mind set and who are positioned to do so to exploit the financial systems, resources and the people of the world.  Further, to do so in ways that are homicidal in their callousness toward vast elements of humanity.

Those in power might say that they are doing nothing illegal. Which is always an easier statement to make when you control the lawmakers and the laws. The thing is, legal or illegal, does the current state of economic inequity and callousness toward human well-being represent what humanity in general wants or needs to be experiencing in the world? Now or in the future?

That’s up to us, isn’t it?  All of us.  What kind of world do we want to live in?  What kind of world do we want our children and children’s children to grow up in?  What kind of species is the human race?  One that is so lacking in intellectual ability that recognition of what is or is not conducive to our happiness and survival is beyond our ability to comprehend or act upon?  I don’t think so, I certainly hope not.  Reasonable expectations as far as a work week goes with reasonable reimbursement. A worker who works a 40 or more hr. work week does not really have a reasonable opportunity to explore and develop their life to it’s fullest. 24 hours over three days would be more in keeping with a balanced life. And for that a worker should be able to afford to live comfortably. To have the time and money for housing, food, recreational pursuits, ongoing personal development, and spiritual development. These are things a healthy, vibrant person requires to stay vital. 

However, both as individuals and as populations, we have been and are able to be manipulated.  Too many working, contributing, people are kept busy worrying about having a roof over their heads and food to eat. By design or default, we often are too distracted, too exhausted to pay adequate attention to the long-range agendas which others are putting in place around us.  Agendas which are too often aimed at serving a minority of people at the expense of many. 

We need to discipline ourselves to pay attention.  We need to ask questions about any and every program, policy, and action our governments and industries engage in.  We need to own our heritage of being descendants of the people who have with their sweat and blood, their lives’ energy built the civilizations and the wealth of the world.  And I venture that at no time were our ancestors thinking that the purpose of their life was to forget about themselves, their families, their loved ones, and simply feed the greed of a few.  So the question becomes: what do we see as our purpose?

We need to recognize in this increasingly connected world that we are one people:  the human race.  We need to take on that awareness and act upon it in all our dealings.  We need to treat each other with compassion. We need to consistently work toward health, education and enlightenment, for ourselves and all around us, within all aspects of our lives.  To do so is to own our very humanity and to work at being the enlightened architects of our future.

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.

How did the United States take such a wrong turn?

by kendunning, posted in Building our future., Community, Economics, Environment, Mental Health, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Science, Spirituality, Sustainability, War

As the song says, “War, huh, good God, y’all, what is it good for?” Something war most certainly is, is the violent introduction of some, if not all, of humankind’s most ill-conceived, lowest frequency, motivations into the spiritual/physical realm of our planet. Into our communities, into our lives.

The act of war, or acts of violence on an interpersonal level, without exception result in vibrations of dissonance reverberating within our energetic/spiritual environment. The traumas which war produces can, and too often do, resonate within generations becoming a self-perpetuating source of hatred and violence. The result is traumatized people blindly acting out of impulse to perpetuate more trauma and on and on.

How different our world would be if following the Second World War the United States had decided to “be the change we (the vast majority of people on Earth) want to see in the world.” How different the world would be if the United States had decided to model what an evolved, educated, caring nation could be instead of deciding to try to accomplish global domination via military might. How did a nation so blessed as the United States in the period after the Second World War take such a wrong turn? It isn’t what the people wanted. In 1960 we voted for a man who promised to take the path of an evolved, educated, caring nation. The early 1960’s with John F. Kennedy in the White House and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the pulpit, held so much promise for an enlightened future for humanity. Under Kennedy, foreign policy meant constructive cultural exchange. What we have seen foreign policy devolve into the past few decades is vicious attacks upon whatever nations aren’t getting into lockstep with the wealth/power/control aspirations of a coalition of a relative few of the world’s wealthiest and most politically powerful.

We, as a people in the United States and around the world, need to stop engaging in, or supporting, the madness of materialism, imperialism, competition and profiteering that has become commonplace in our world. We are, all of us, children of the Universal Divine Creative Spirit. We are all brothers and sisters in the spirit. We are all connected by the energy/spirit that we are made up of and that we live within. Sooner or later the cruelties expressed and the suffering taking place anywhere in the world is going to touch all of us.

At our core, our needs as human beings aren’t all that different. We do have differences in appearance: skin color, hair color, eye color, height, weight, and other physical attributes. We also have differences in the way we relate to the world. Some people are more intellectual, some more physical, some more visual, some more auditory. These differences may affect one’s values, likes and dislikes. They can affect who we seek out for companionship. All of these differences together lend each of us a certain uniqueness. And thank goodness, what a drab, boring place this Earth might be if we all were in lockstep with how we view the world, our likes and dislikes.

However, at our core, we are all of the same ilk. In order to be healthy, we all need clean air, clean water, nutritious food, shelter from extreme weather conditions. We all need to have other people we socialize with, share our thoughts and feelings with. We all need to love and to be loved. While we all may enjoy periods of isolation, some may say they don’t need socialization or love at all. However, that condition, if it exists at all, is rare. Abraham Maslow recognized these shared needs among people and produced his “Hierarchy of Needs” to help us all understand them, and ourselves.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Our natural way of relating to one another is copacetically. Babies and young children don’t want war. They know instinctively that it is not good for them. It’s only after we become acculturated into competition, envy, jealousy, greed, hate, essentially all the things that trauma and deprivation (also a form of trauma) nurture in the world that we as adults begin to imagine that there is gain in violence and war. When we know love, belonging, we don’t want to throw that away to go kill someone, somewhere, in order to try to achieve some ill-begotten, grandiose plan. Or more ridiculously to devote our lives to support someone else’s ill-begotten, grandiose plan.

We cannot fully develop as human beings when the higher functioning capabilities of our brains are diminished due to trauma. Do we want to keep living in a manner more suited to the beasts of the field while we live in a universe of unlimited possibilities? If so, all we need to do is build and sustain a culture of competition rather than cooperation. To keep on warring instead of working together. To keep on destroying each other rather than honoring the innate kinship of all of humanity, of all life.

It is when people are mistreated, traumatized, deprived, destitute, suffering, and/or deluded that fear, greed, callousness, and myriad other negative thoughts/feelings/and motivations arise. Competition as cultural norm breeds these all of these things and more. Within a framework of a few basic laws, within a culture of people who are thinking in terms of mutuality, trust, fairness, and compassion, the wondrous possibilities of this world are endless.

World conquest 2.0 and how to resist it.

by kendunning, posted in Community, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality
Photo: Ken Dunning

The problem with the proposed U.N. gun ban is that it leaves the most ruthless criminals; the governments who routinely use armies and police as enforcers for special interest agendas, fully armed. Such special interest agendas which are being enacted and enforced which strip people, families and communities of their individual rights, freedoms and economic stability. Within this worldwide dynamic there are, in many and various places, “sub-elements” of individuals and groups who can and will use weapons to engage in their own more localized criminal activities: robbery, intimidation, assault, murder. These elements are what most people want to see disarmed. Yet these elements are those which would be the last to, if ever, turn over any weapons they possess. As the saying goes: “When guns are criminalized, only criminals will have guns.” The Second Amendment was intended to enable a well-armed citizenry to defend itself against armed assaults from either criminally authoritarian governments or smaller criminal groups. Regrettably, the threats which it is designed to address are no less present today than they were in the late 1700’s.

Yet there has been a movement within people around the world to embrace greater understanding of, and empathy toward, others. Via international tourism, this movement was rapidly picking up momentum in the past few decades. Perhaps this momentum threatened those who see authoritarian control as the system they want to see in place: with themselves as the authorities. The appearance of COVID was used to almost totally quash the increasing amount of international tourism. Tourism which was having the effect of bringing people together; which was allowing people to see first-hand the similarities and kinship innate within all people on Earth. The past few months international tourism has been opening up considerably, however, simultaneously plans are being laid among the international governmental powers-that-be to bring international tourism under an increased level of authoritarian control. A concerted attempt to bring a “vaccine passport” into being is underway among the G20 nations.

Which brings us back to the proposed U.N. gun ban. There can be no question that there exists an international elite who see themselves as the leaders of the world. Further, they want to impose their vision of the future upon the global citizenry. A vision which lacks the merit which would allow it to be globally embraced by an enlightened populace. If their vision had such merit, it would be spontaneously embraced. It would become a globally internalized behavioral guidance system which would lead to a harmonious society. But it does not, so lies, manipulation, and force are being employed in an attempt to establish the desired authoritarian system. Ultimately, as it is highly oppositional to a healthy human nature, it will fall apart. Yet we are left with the question of how much pain and suffering this attempt will cause while it is underway? It depends on several things. One of which, possibly the most significant, is how susceptible people around the world are to being convinced that participating in military, and/or police, violence against other nations and people is a good thing to do. This will largely depend upon the amount of fear the powers-that-be are able to cultivate among one person or population toward another.

What will go the farthest toward keeping us safe against this insidious attempt at bringing the general population of the world under the control of a self-serving minority, is simply not buying into the persistent rhetoric, the fear mongering. The more we stay centered in love, loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, and then acting upon that love, the better chance we have of keeping the most positive aspects of our humanity alive and well.

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

Principles or Personalities?

by kendunning, posted in Community, Personal Development, Politics, Psychology, Spirituality

Books, magazines, radio, television, computers, they all have, to a greater or lesser extent, contributed to the phenomena of masses of people becoming enamored with a personality which they have been exposed to via that medium. In the past, in the days in which books, magazines and then radio were the primary media, authors and radio personalities might become famous, even loved, for their contributions. However, the advent of movies, television, and now computers and cell phones has exponentially increased the phenomenon of “consumers” not only liking, or loving, but idolizing the personalities whose faces and words fill these media.

In doing a computer search on the definition of “idolize”, the following definition, attributed to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition. came up on “Wordnik”: “To regard with great or uncritical admiration or devotion.” The descriptor “uncritical” is the key word to why such idolization (of anyone or anything) is not something conducive to genuinely healthy individuals nor a healthy culture. I think all of us, with a few seconds of thought, can come up with the name of a personality that has been the recipient of such idolization in the past and/or the present. I would venture that very often those who are not caught up in the idolization of a particular person can plainly see the downside of such idolization. However, interestingly, even those who can plainly see the downside, the “error” if you will, of idolizing one personality may be actively involved in the idolization of another. In such cases it is a recognition of the imperfections of the object of the idolization, rather than a recognition of the pitfalls inherent in the act of idolization itself. The American practice of idolization is so pervasive, so entrenched, that within certain (many?) Christian churches the idolization of Jesus has become more important than adherence to the vital principles he taught.

Why does it matter? One very important reason is that if a person can be led to believe that it is the idolization, the worship, of a personality that is important, rather than the study and consideration of the vital principles which they proclaim, then a person can be led to violate genuinely vital principles necessary to a healthy person or culture when told to do so by the object of idolization. Or by another person or an agency which they believe represent the object of idolization.

Beware of any person or organization which holds up a personality as someone to be idolized. Both as individuals and as a culture we are much better served by having concern with the principles which enlightened and loving teachers, saints and prophets, through the ages, have brought forward. Principles such persons have endeavored to direct and encourage people to the study and understanding of.

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?