Who Am I?

“Who am I? If you think life is a meaningless accident, your perceptions of the complex world around you will likely be biased toward seeing the meaningless and absurd. If you believe in original sin and the great difficulties of finding salvation, your perceptions will likely be biased toward seeing your own and others’ failures. Our beliefs about who we are and what our world is like are not mere beliefs – they strongly control our perceptions. We can gain more control by finding out what we believe and how those beliefs affect us. “
— Prof. Charles Tart in his thought-provoking essay “Who Am I?”

 

Who am I?

The question is an eternal one. If you don’t answer it, you may never be able to distinguish between what your essential self wants and what other people manipulate you to want. Each of us may do best to answer it for himself or herself. Yet the answers given by others do affect the way we approach (or avoid) this question. Several general types of answers have been offered.

The most traditional answer in Western culture is that you are a creature, a creation of God, a creation that is flawed in vital ways. Conceived and born in original sin, you are someone who must continually struggle to obey the rules laid down by that God, lest you be damned. It is an answer that appears depressing in some ways. One the one hand, it can lead to low self-worth and the expectation of failure. On the other, it can lead to the rigid arrogance of being one of the “elect.” Further, this view doesn’t much encourage you to think about who you really are, as the answer has already been given from a “higher” source.

The more modern answer to “Who am I?” is that you are a meaningless accident. Contemporary science is largely associated with a view of reality that sees the entire universe as totally material, governed only by fixed physical laws and blind chance. It just happened that, in a huge universe, the right chemicals came together under the right conditions so that the chemical reaction we call life formed and eventually evolved into you. But there’s no inherent meaning in that accident, no spiritual side to existence.

I believe that this view is not really good science, but rather what we believe to be scientific and factual. More important, it’s a view that has strong psychological consequences. After all, if you’re just a mixture of meaningless chemicals, your ultimate fate – death and nonexistence – is clear. Don’t worry too much about other people, as they are just meaningless mixtures of chemicals, too. In this view, it doesn’t really matter if you think about who you really are – whatever conclusions you arrive at are just subjective fantasies, of no particular relevance in the real physical world.

Psychologically speaking, this materialist view of our ultimate nature leaves as much to be desired as does the born-into-original-sin view. As a psychologist, I stress the psychological consequences of these two views of your ultimate identity, because your beliefs play an important role in shaping your reality. Modern research has shown that, in many ways, what we believe affects the way our brain constructs the world we experience. Some of these beliefs are conscious. You know you have them. Yet many are implicit – you act on them, but don’t even know you have them.

If you think life in general is a meaningless accident, your perceptions of the complex world around you will likely be biased toward seeing the meaningless and absurd. Seeing this will in turn reinforce your belief in the meaninglessness of things. If you believe in original sin and the great difficulties of finding salvation, your perceptions will likely be biased toward seeing your own and others’ failures, again reinforcing your belief in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our beliefs about who we are and what our world is like are not mere beliefs – they strongly control our perceptions. So we can gain more control by finding out what we believe and how those beliefs affect us.

Between the traditional religious and materialistic views of who you are, there are a variety of ideas that embrace elements of each which include rich possibilities for personal and social growth. The common element in these other views is that life and the universe do have some meaning and that each of us shares in some form of spiritual nature. Yet they also recognize that something has gone wrong somewhere. We have “temporarily” lost our way. We have forgotten the essential divine element within us and have become psychologically locked into a narrow, traditional, religious or materialist views.

There is an old Eastern teaching story that illustrates this – the story of the Mad King. Although he is actually the ruler of vast dominions, the Mad King has forgotten this. Years ago he descended into the pits of the dankest cellar of his great palace, where he lives in the dark amongst rags and rats, continually brooding on his many misfortunes. The king’s ministers try valiantly to persuade him to come upstairs into the light, where life is beautiful. But the Mad King is convinced these are madmen and will not listen. He will not be taken in by fairy tales of noble kings and beautiful palaces!

We have a lot of evidence in modern psychology to show how little of our natural potential we use and how much of our suffering is self-created, clasped tightly to our bosoms in crazed fear and ignorance. Yet the ministers do carry a light with them when they come down into the cellar, and they do bring the food which keeps the king alive. Even in his madness, he must sometimes notice this. In the real world, events keep occurring that don’t fit into our narrow views, no matter how tightly we may hold them, and sometimes these events catch our attention.

So-called psychic phenomena are like that. They certainly don’t fit a materialistic view, just as they challenge the traditional religious view held by many that this kind of phenomena only happened thousands of years ago, and are thus to be believed, but not pondered.

Psychic phenomena are disturbing to both the traditional religious and materialistic views of who we are. It is one thing to consider abstractly that our true identity may be more than we conceive, or that our universe may be populated with other non-material intelligences. It is quite another thing, with channeling for instance, when the ordinary looking person sitting across from you seems to go to sleep, but suddenly begins speaking to you in a different voice, announcing that he is a spiritual entity who has temporarily taken over the channel’s body to teach you something!

Now you have to really look at what’s going on. Who is that so-called “entity?” Who is that person who channels? If someone else can have his or her apparent identity change so drastically, do we really know who they are? Can I even be sure about who I am? If you have been conditioned to believe that who you are is meaningless or inherently bad or sinful, you might not welcome this stimulation that the phenomena of channeling gives to the question “Who am I?”

We have many ways of psychologically defending ourselves against dealing with things that don’t fit into our organized and defended world. You could just say, “This person is crazy, or maybe even deliberately faking this stuff.” It’s a good defense, for of course there are some people known as channels who are probably just crazy or deliberately faking it. The best lies usually contain a very high proportion of truth.

You could also just naively accept whatever the ostensible channeled entity says. “Yes, you are Master Shananangans from the 17th planet of the central divine galaxy Ottenwelt. Teach me Master, I hear and obey.” This overenthusiastic acceptance can be just as much of a defense against deeper thinking and questioning as overenthusiastic rejection.

Channeling and other psychic phenomena are having a great impact on our culture today. We can use this impact for personal and social growth if we are willing to think about the deeper implications, and examine the things we take for granted about our inherent nature.

If we just believe or disbelieve without really looking, this opportunity will be lost. Read, reflect, examine your own beliefs, argue, go meet some psychics or channels. Perhaps you will decide that they are “real.” Perhaps you will decide they are not “real” in the ordinary sense of the word, but are somehow psychologically or spiritually real or important. Perhaps you will decide that some (or most or all) of this stuff is really crazy. But in the process, you will learn a lot about who you are, and who we are.
Note: The above essay is an edited version of Charles Tart’s foreword to Jon Klimo’s well researched and intriguing book titled Channeling. For a powerful essay inviting you to open to more fluid intelligence and transparency, click here. For excellent evidence that there may be more to ESP than meets the eye, click here.

SOURCE: want to know

PEERS

More Tom Campbell

Despite the fact that Thomas Campbell totally resonates with me and makes perfect sense in every respect with his words via book or youtube videos, there are those skeptics that just won’t even really hear what he is saying. I think it’s because of preconceived ideas or beliefs acquired during their time spent in their present avatar (ego). He freely shares his information and always concedes that his theory is incomplete and that it is HIS theory, and we should each develop our own intuitive TOE (theory of everything). Concerning the nature of reality, Tom came into my life at just the right time. All the digging through comparative religions, mystery teachings, Gnosticism, Buddhism, anti-mainstream literalistic dogmatic religions, mythicism and all the things I’ve researched the past couple decades seem to be summed (or included) up in Tom’s TOE, with the perfect blend of the much needed scientific and mystic knowledge to derive a solid big TOE . There’s over 230 youtube videos and he posts a new one about every week. His book My Big TOE can be read for free at google books. He is not doing this for money. He has many times said that having an OBE is not that important, so he’s not promising to teach you how to do it. He just says it’s possible for anyone with the proper intent to do so, as well as perform remote healing and remote viewing. But putting that aside and just absorbing his Big TOE is quite amazing. He obviously will have his enemies and debunkers. To me they are the ones that are closed minded and not giving him a fair hearing. They listen to one video and shut him down when their arguments against him are truthfully answered in another lecture. If one were to listen to many of his videos, one would realize he’s not a charlatan with a hidden agaenda. He has other scientists listening and agreeing with him. I hope you get to know him, he is making a difference. The following is from a forum I was reading where a woman asks Tom a question. (Tom never gives a short answer):

Question to Tom: “…..what in your opinion, could your work contribute to the future of Physics”

A very good and reasonable question trying to figure out: “where’s the beef”….. indeed “is there any beef?”

You know, it is difficult to assess the value of your own work objectively. To be valid, verification and general acceptance needs to come from others. To me, it seems perfectly clear though the concepts are very challenging to most who hear them for the first time – other technical people, including physicists who approach my work with open minds generally find that it is logically solid and answers fundamental questions otherwise unanswerable. I live my talk about open-minded skepticism — The skeptical part will feel satisfied and successful – standing on perfectly solid ground — only after physics (science in general) absorbs, embraces and accepts the core ideas in My Big TOE – that’s real validation. But such a major change in attitude and perspective will not come easily or quickly – it will require physicists to rethink their notions of reality from the ground up – to cast aside the beliefs with which they now paint themselves into a corner that does not contain the answer. Trying to change the mind of committed believers has historically been a very difficult thing to do – whether in metaphysics or physics. Cultural beliefs run much deeper than the intellect.

However, the good news is, physics does seem to be moving in that direction – digital physics is a concept that is growing more acceptable by the mainstream. The research describing mind-matter entanglement at prestigious universities like Princeton and Temple (backward causality, modifying random event generators, the placebo effect, anticipatory empathetic reactions, etc.) represent rock solid objective science with immaculate protocol. The fundamental failure of physics in almost 100 years to make any serious progress toward finding a TOE that unites the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics under one more-general set of principles is shouting that the fundamental assumptions of physics are incomplete. The solution to all that is both fundamental and unfathomable is at hand: My Big TOE theory, with just two unremarkable assumptions provides the critical missing ingredient in digital physics (what and where is Dr. Fredkin’s “other”), explains the mind-matter experiments with clear logical science, and unites relativity and quantum mechanics, showing them to be an approximation, a special case of a larger, more general and more complete theory. Just as the “flat earth” assumption was found to be valid for short distances, and Newtonian physics was found to be a special case approximation valid for a limited set of Macro conditions (slow speeds and medium to large sizes).

Once physics sees the logic of it and can outgrow the limiting beliefs that now constrain the traditional solution set such that it does not contain the correct answer, the effect upon our understanding and culture will be as big, if not bigger, than the round earth, Newtonian physics, and relativity and quantum mechanics all put together. (and I think it will one day happen because it is a better theory under the criteria science traditionally uses to determine the worth of a theory). An age of discovery and change will open up the minds and affect the personal lives of hundreds of millions of individuals over a decade – this is science that affects people personally – it is about the point and purpose of their existence – life and death. Science by itself would not have that large of an affect. However, My Big TOE not only delivers a breakthrough in physics but more importantly delivers an even larger breakthrough in philosophy, metaphysics, and theology. It would be hard to overestimate its potential impact on the people of this planet – scientists, philosophers, and theologians all solving their long standing intractable issues of understanding with the same set of overarching principles.

One minor example to make this point seem more real: Most who are seriously committed to religion and who attend my workshops or read the MBT trilogy, tell me that they equate the larger consciousness system with God. It’s a perfect fit for those with a broader perspective of their religion. In their minds MBT derives God – i.e., an understanding of God that explains who, what, why, and how God is – and defines their personal relationship to God with logic and science replacing belief, creed, and dogma. Can you imagine theology where open-minded skepticism replaces belief as the fundamental requirement? I have people telling me they keep MBT and their bibles together on their nightstand?! And that is just theology (the most belief laden and intractable of the four) – the other three: physics, philosophy, and metaphysics are affected no less. If this attitude were to become a widespread concept (MBT does explain theology very nicely – and the fact that it also explains physics very nicely provides vast credibility) what kind of an effect would it have on the world – that is but one potential, one simple example that could contribute to a tsunami of changing attitudes toward the nature of our reality. Do you see the potential and why I said that “It would be hard to overestimate its potential impact on the people of this planet – scientists, philosophers, and theologians all solving their long standing intractable issues of understanding with the same set of overarching principles.” The changes in physics alone would be revolutionary and that would be the smaller part.

This theory is falsifiable. There are literally dozens of experiment that can be done to verify the predicted results. This is real science, not just another wild improvable theory that sounds good if you don’t think about it too hard.

When any of this might happen, I have no idea – perhaps not in my lifetime – it all depends on how the ball bounces – who picks it up and how the knowledge spreads. Who knows, the scientists might not lead this massive cultural change (cultural, scientific, spiritual, growth spurt), instead they may be dragged along by it because they are so committed to their beliefs. Science is the de-facto religion of the West (what most people believe in as being the fundamental source of truth) and science, like religion, has a vested interest in maintaining their belief systems. However, the truth is not fragile – science will eventually, sooner or later, accept it.

I hope this is what you are looking for. In short, here is the potential impact of MBT: this theory could turn physics on its head, produce a broader, more powerful, and more generally correct scientific method (the old one becoming a special case approximation), and advance the level of understanding and productivity of science greatly. It could unify physics, metaphysics, philosophy and theology, solving most all of the outstanding fundamental problems, and all derivable from the same overarching elegantly simple principles based on two easily acceptable assumptions. And that would be the least of it. And because I know that logic, truth and science are what they are, and MBT is what it is, I think one day, when the time is right and people are ready to let go of fear and belief for a better, more productive understanding of reality and existence, all this change will happen because the truth is not fragile – eventually it will become known. Today we are on the cusp of that happening – perhaps even in our lifetime.

Tom Campbell

(here is a partial review of My Big TOE):

Scientific Basis

Tom points out that all systems of cosmology posit a mystical beginning. Even our current physics asks us to accept that the Big Bang was uncaused or that what caused it is unknown and unknowable. He uses concepts from modern physics, analogies from information theory and computing to build his Big TOE (Theory of Everything).

As a scientist, he is at pains to say that his TOE (MBT) is a model, not a fixed set of beliefs. He pretty much despises beliefs, whether materialist or religious, because they put bounds on our experience; they tend to turn into dogma and become a prison for the mind. If something happens that does not fit our beliefs, we tend to reject it, often without enquiry. This is no way to make philosophical or evolutionary progress. (Sometimes you can tell from the tone that Tom has had to suffer ridicule from materialists.) So Tom insists that we should not take his model on trust, which is by necessity a work in progress; the last thing he wants is to make a scientological-style religion out of it. Always, we should “taste the pudding”, test it and see how it measures up to our own understanding; and then develop our own version of the model.

Take meditation for example: he recommends that we should try this for two 20 minute (TM mantra) sessions a day for 3 months, whether we wish to attempt OBEs or not. If after that time, we do not notice a difference in ourselves (‘objectively’ tested by other people’s reactions to us, changed opinion of us, and our own improved ability to focus), then we should vary the technique or move on.

Metaphors

When MBT uses analogies from the world we know, these are to be understood as metaphors. Metaphors are, however, peculiarly and particularly relevant to MBT, because Reality is understood to be fractal in Nature. A fractal is a modern mathematical way of saying “As above, So Below”. The same laws and processes manifest in similar ways at different levels of reality.

Ordinarily, we are trapped in the ‘little picture’. Our Physical Matter Reality is one of many similar ‘subsets’ within a ‘superset’ Non-Physical Matter reality. The NPMR superset cannot possibly be understood in terms of one of its PMR subsets. This would be like the two-dimensional beings of E.A. Abbott’s Flatland trying to comprehend the idea of our three-dimensional world.

However, an insightful metaphor can actually help us to transcend the boundaries between realities and so get a glimpse of the ‘Big Picture’. Poets, of course, have always understood this idea.

Occasionally, MBT also mentions the term “hologram”, but this is not developed, presumably because we can’t easily find holograms in nature. It is easier to find fractal patterns and we can readily invoke fractal metaphors.

Read entire review of My Big TOE here: https://sites.google.com/site/iscatusben/review-of-my-big-t

Lots more videos here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tom+campbell

Born To Be Mild

Your life is not an accident. Your life is lived in your mind. Life is also lived in your heart. Sometimes you rue your actions or inaction. You call them whopping mistakes, and, yet, still, you don’t know yet how one action leads to another and how it will all play out. You can’t think all that much about what has been and what is yet to be.

Your essence comes into fruition not by trying but by allowing. To revel in your capacity to glow and spread your Love to all those around you is a privilege and a right you have and are discovering with each passing day. As cliche’ as it has become, everything you experience in your Earthly Lives happens for a reason, and you have steered your own Lives and experiences in the directions best intended for your growth.

Perhaps the purpose is that ‘God’ (the ancient’s name for Consciousness) needs to evolve to stay alive, and It does this by splitting Itself apart into us, and It’s life depends on us evolving into Love. We are One with this Consciousness.

It appears that consciousness is digital information packets encoded in photons (god is light), and the future exists as a probability (as proven by the double slit experiment) based on our choices and intent. We are this very Consciousness. We THINK we are bodies, but we aren’t. In truth, there is no proof that matter exists. The closer we look the more emptiness we see. Life is at most energy and/or vibration, but even that is a product of consciousness. There is in truth only Consciousness and everything emanates from It. We are the thoughts of Conscious Awareness and that means this reality is a virtual reality. (Virtual means rendering information). We are like characters or avatars in a video game. When the avatar ‘dies’ the player doesn’t die. The player gets a new avatar and keeps playing. Most of us are immersed in the game and don’t realize (or care to know) it’s just a game, but that’s OK. Evolution is a slow process. We will evolve into true human beings, a mankind of Gaia via love and co-operation. Eventually.

And by the way, there are things we just cannot know. I’m fine with that. I love a good mystery. I will not fill that void of not knowing with “beliefs.” That’s a box I struggled too hard to get out of.

Belief = Ignorance.

20 Weird Religious Beliefs

1. The foreskin of [a holy one] may lie safeguarded in reliquaries made of gold and crystal and inlayed with gems–or it may have ascended into the heavens all by itself. (2)
2. A race of giants once roamed the earth, the result of women and demi-gods interbreeding. (1). They lived at the same time as fire breathing dragons. (1)
3. Evil spirits can take control of pigs. (1)
4. A talking donkey scolded a prophet. (1, 3)
5. A righteous man can control his wife’s access to eternal paradise. (6)
6. Brown skin is a punishment for disobeying God. (6)
7. A prophet once traveled between two cities on a miniature flying horse with the face of a woman and the tail of a peacock. (4)
8. [The Holy One] forbids a cat or dog receiving a blood transfusion and forbids blood meal being used as garden fertilizer. (7)
9. Sacred underwear protects believers from spiritual contamination and, according to some adherents, from fire and speeding bullets (6)
10. When certain rites are performed beforehand, bread turns into human flesh after it is  swallowed. (2)
11. Invisible supernatural beings reveal themselves in mundane objects like oozing paint or cooking food. (2)
12. In the end times, [the Holy One’s] chosen people will be gathered together in Jackson County, Missouri. (6)
13. Believers can drink poison or get bit by snakes without being harmed. (1)
14. Sprinkling water on a newborn, if done correctly, can keep the baby from eons of suffering should he or she die prematurely. (2)
15. Waving a chicken over your head can take away your sins. (3)
16. [A holy one] climbed a mountain and could see the whole earth from the mountain peak. (1, 2)
17. Putting a dirty milk glass and a plate from a roast beef sandwich in the same dishwasher can contaminate your soul. (3)
18. There will be an afterlife in which exactly 144,000 people get to live eternally in Paradise. (8)
19. Each human being contains many alien spirits that were trapped in volcanos by hydrogen bombs. (5)
20. [A supernatural being] cares tremendously what you do with your penis or vagina. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8.

Entire article here: http://www.wakingtimes.com/2015/03/19/20-of-the-worlds-weirdest-religious-beliefs/

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington.  She is the author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light and Deas and Other Imaginings, and the founder of www.WisdomCommons.org.  Her articles can be found at Awaypoint.Wordpress.com. 

YES! She’s on wordpress!!

Belief Systems and the Power Of Authority

Today I would like to return to your awareness an aspect of the Human condition that adheres to the abstract nature of belief. Beliefs come in many shapes and sizes and yet all share something in common— they’re elusive and intangible.

Although we cannot “touch” a belief, it certainly has a way of touching us. Our belief modifies the way we think, how we act and feel. I take my tinfoil hat off to those who invented this system of social order so many moons ago. What a concept indeed. Imagine sitting around a stone-age conference table discussing this idea. I surely would have laughed it off. “You mean you can get people to accept something as truth even if it’s not real? C’mon man. I tell you what’s real— something called fire! Now that’s something you can believe in!”

Oh my, how I would have missed the boat. Not only did the concept grow legs, it sprouted wings. Turns out everyone wants to believe in something. For one thing it’s kind of fun. What would Christmas be like without Santa Clause? For another it makes us feel special somehow. But how does one find truth in a belief? The answer is really quite simple. We pretend.

In the following paragraphs I’ll take a somewhat playful (if not cynical) look at some of the hermetically-sealed belief systems that dominate in our lives. There’s a circuitous path one must navigate that divides our place of knowing from a world of make-believe. This trail can get a little precarious and downright slippery at times. So let’s saddle up our loyal mustangs and see where they take us. These majestic creatures are sure-footed, certain and most graceful in their stride. More than that, I sense they may know something we have forgotten.

Born to Run

This I can tell you about the mustang— they were born to run and we were born to ride. Where the trail ends, a new one begins and the sights and sounds are something to behold. The rider learns the way of the horse and the horse the way of the rider. It’s a relationship of balance and harmony. There’s a transfer of energy from one entity to another as our thoughts begin to roam free with wild abandon and the mustang gently restrains in courtesy of the saddle. On this journey, it’s not where you go— but where it takes you.

We are freedom-loving beings. You, me and the people we never meet or see because they live an ocean away. At the deepest level we are all free spirits. To this end we are not unlike the mustang. But I sense there’s a trifle few who would suggest we’re not deserving of this freedom. I believe they gain very much from the belief structures we submit to. And so we are encouraged to believe in those ideas and concepts that place cuffs on our hands and feet. We unlock our mind and hand another the key. Not because we’re foolish, but because we are trusting.

One may believe it is warm outside or that the words of another are true. But belief takes a giant leap forward when invested in an outside ideology or institution. These beliefs must be taught and learned. Can you see how someone might be stirred remotely by the belief system they follow? It’s here where we find the chasm between the spiritual and the believers. The spiritual mind seeks truth and spends many, many lonely nights pondering and wondering. It’s not enough for a lesson to be taught and handed to them— it must be felt at the very core of their being.

External influences are everywhere. We’ve all been conditioned into “believing” that we’re just a tiny speck in the macrocosm. Okay, to them I say— try removing that “speck” and see what happens. You’ll find it leaves a hole in this macrocosm, a tear in the ethereal fabric of all that is and will ever be. The tear would surely be the center of attention for all to notice. There is nothing insignificant about that.

And we must “believe” freedom is not free, they say. That’s not what the mustang tells me. And we must “believe” in a fabricated religion or face consternation or eternal damnation. We must “believe” in our teachers and the concepts of higher education. Most of all, the belief-makers want us to believe in all things outside ourselves. That’s the true societal doctrine. We must believe that without our loyal adherence to those synthetic constructs that mold us, we are very small and insignificant. Indeed, join the Army and be part of something bigger than yourself— or so they will tell you. But I will tell you again and again— there is nothing “bigger” than the beautiful, singular you.

The Concept of Religion

The late rock legend John Lennon perhaps said it best. In his song aptly titled, “God” he states “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.” Exactly what was meant by this verse is of course a matter of interpretation. But referring to God as a “concept” is what I find particularly intriguing. Lennon goes on to mention many ideologies and icons he doesn’t “believe” in. Even The Beatles made the list. Near the end of the track he writes, “I just believe in me… and that reality.” These are profoundly insightful words from someone who clearly understood the illusions that blind and bind us. When we believe in something outside ourselves we subordinate to the authority of that belief. Somebody is in control of that belief system and it’s not you.

“So you see I have come to doubt all that I once held as true.” These are the powerful words of Paul Simon from “Kathy’s Song.” Simon goes on to say “I stand alone without beliefs— the only truth I know is you.” The songwriters of yesterday came to our poetic and philosophical rescue. Music was perhaps the last conduit for elevating the masses into a higher consciousness. We’ve since moved on to a different sound and a different message. It would seem the philosophy belongs to a bygone era of the children of World War II and the veterans of Vietnam. The music I hear today is often brooding and complex or unmercifully adolescent. It too provides a snapshot of where we are today, but offers little antidote or resolution. The new sound seems to concede to the idea that we’re already screwed. They might be right.

In the most fundamental sense, as long as we believe in an external authority then we knowingly or unknowingly yield to those who govern it. This gives power to an entity outside of you. As in the case of a religious structure, we find not only individual power but the collective power of millions. Why does this concern me? Do we trust the wisdom of those who command this power and influence? We know there is an ongoing concern about religious improprieties. Collusion with nefarious governments, horrendous inquisitions, child rape and murder and a whole host of other unspeakable atrocities should offer one some pause and reservation. Personally, I will have nothing to do with institutions that serve as agents for Divine intervention. If there is a devil— in such a house you would find him. My thoughts belong to me. I’ve not been assigned my way of thinking.

Education and Government

Institutionalized education teaches us how to be compliant. Do not think for a moment that there is any real purpose beyond this. I once had a grade school teacher candidly admit, “You’re all empty minds needing to be filled.” Yes there is rudimentary instruction that loosely qualifies as teaching. But the real goal is to indoctrinate and enforce submission and turn the populace into working bees. There are many gifted children who ultimately fall out of this system because they have issues with compliance. I have nothing but disdain for modern education. Those who ultimately earn an advanced degree will be well-seasoned and attuned to the conformity and compliance of this institution. These are the same people who are ultimately chosen to effect major policy changes in society.

To what extent should we believe? Devices such as propaganda have long been used by government to influence the masses. People “believe” in what they’re told because they have submitted to this external authority. This power is so persuasive it can encourage people to enlist in the armed services. They are told they’re the defenders of “freedom” and yet they must give up much of their own freedom in order to serve in this capacity.

Dynamics of Belief

What I believe may not be what you believe and I am okay with that. In fact, I’m grateful for it. We are entitled to believe in what we want, but we should understand that beliefs are not the same as truth. Beliefs are malleable and can change over time. Truth is universal and will withstand the ages. The problem seems to be that many hold belief in the same light as truth. How did this happen?

Once surrendered to an external belief system, we’re honor-bound to serve it. In the simplest sense, that means if you call yourself a Mormon, then you must also say goodbye to coffee. That would surely spell my demise as I drink the stuff as if my life depended on it. So be it. My belief permits it. I abstain from meat— the Mormon does not. I would advise this ideology to not lecture me on matters of morality. If perhaps they are open to true enlightenment, I would suggest they close their book and open their mind. If they do, they will see how their structure is not unlike the others. Like all faiths, they preach peace and love as they march their children to war. There is such hypocrisy and deceit behind the velvet pulpits of shame.

Spirituality is also a belief system albeit a personal one. This means you’re the authority of it. You are not relinquishing your power to another. It does not suggest your belief is the right one or the only one. It does however suggest that you have found a belief that serves your needs—and that’s powerful indeed. You live with an inner-knowing and an inner-peace. You can separate yourself from the spectacle that surrounds you. From this vantage, all the rumblings of the world play out on stage. You may feel like one of the actors at times, but the spiritually aware are more attuned as observers. They may feel captivated and moved by the story, but they know it’s just a show.

Final Thought

My reality did not come pre-wrapped in a package with a pretty bow on it. I was not captured by a flowering sermon or summoned by a Bible-pumping preacher pimping fear. I fought long and hard for the truth and the philosophy I live by. I had to first unlearn what had been sewn into my young psyche at such an impressionable age. Not an easy task by any measure. I had to forgive and forget the Catholic teachings and extricate myself from the labyrinth that held me. I had feelings of guilt which were not unlike the pain of divorce. I learned to let go.

I believe in you and I believe in me. Much beyond that is a real reach in my world. What we call belief is merely a presumption, opinion or an understanding. On the other hand, the word “truth” suggests a state of knowing, a resonance in harmony at the very core of who and what we are. And yet we use these words freely and interchangeably.

Ah, alas, I see we’re back. There were a couple of slippery parts there— but your mustang held on and stayed true to course. When the rider bonds with their horse, there’s a synergy that benefits both. You really had nothing to fear as the path withered and narrowed into a new trail of your own making.

The moon is high now, the sage silvery and sweet, but the shadow from a Saguaro conjures the image of a wounded man. And I think to myself, if only he could see the light on the other side. If only.

-Until next time

About the Author

There is a certain obscurity that follows Julian Wash. After all, any writer that starts off with “Dear Humans” might be a little hard to nail down. We sense he’s benevolent, a little crazy and we think rather enjoyable to read. Email: jwash@rattlereport.com

**This article was originally published at The Rattle Report.**

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

 

 

A One World Religion is Already Here

Guest Writer  Julian Wash

Today I would like to return to your awareness an aspect of the Human condition that adheres to certain religious beliefs and practices. It has long been understood by the architects of social order that a belief system predicated on fear and consequence was essential for maintaining control and domination over a populace. From their perspective you can see how important a template of compliancy would be. So church was created along with its extrusions of laws and moral antecedents that were mixed into that catchall phrase called religion.

There are many sects and orders that offer an illusion of choice. But common threads weave through all the major belief systems. The most prevalent would be the concept of one God or monotheism. This proved to be a workable construct in the minds of many people as it seemed both reasonable and appealing. All beliefs share a scriptural tradition, piety and commitment to faith. There are leaders and followers, flocks and herders. They all “teach” moral lessons and in the process etch a somewhat sinister line between those who “believe” and those who do not.

In the following paragraphs we’ll take a brief look at this concept called church and religion. And though these institutions tower above us so that we must look up to see them, I can assure you that their lofty posturing is just a decadent attempt to make us feel very small. But there is one attribute these grandiose ideologies have overwhelmingly in common— people take them seriously.

Different and Yet the Same

Once you see the wheels of religiosity, then the illusion reveals itself. Whether someone defines themselves as a Christian or a Jew, a Muslim or Hindu they are all yielding to a subset of rules and must abide and act accordingly to the tenants of their faith. In this sense we can see how large populations can be swayed and compelled by the words of their religious leaders. If one were to run a string to each of the major world religions, they could tie a neat little bow at the top. So from the perspective of the New World Order, there really is only one religion. It’s those pesky, independent thinkers and spiritual people that are the cause of all the problems.

I’m reminded when Baron M.A. Rothschild so famously stated, “Give me control over a nations currency, and I care not who makes its laws.” In the end, it’s money that rules a nation and it’s religion that rules a population. You may call your religion whatever you like so long as it’s fear-based and replete with severe consequences for those who disobey. And make sure you design your religion to be divisive and coercive so that those who practice it will surrender to its authority. Build large temples and churches with a bunch of creepy statues so that it looks all official like. The bigger the stained glass windows, the more money in the coffers. -Any questions?

I don’t mean to insult or disparage people of religious persuasion. I am merely suggesting what a fine control apparatus you’ve found yourself in. It’s quite brilliant really, and so I applaud the evil intelligence that concocted this scheme. Most of us feel a need to connect with a higher spirit and awareness. This natural desire was hijacked by institutions who service the soul at very reasonable prices. And for those who are willing to pay the price I say look closely, very closely, at that shiny little ring so gingerly ingrained your nose. This is how you let others lead you. Is it by your will or the will of others that you follow? If it is by the will of God, then what does God say about your church? Does God speak to you as if your belief is right and just and the others have been led astray? Has your religion been complicit in deceit, moral improprieties and derelict indiscretions? If so, then why would God speak through this web of unholiness that patronizes and masquerades as being loving and benevolent? When He speaks does He not speak to you directly? I ask these questions rhetorically because you already know the answers.

Ah, but you say, you are of your own mind. Yes, there are those who walk their own path. They tend to be spiritual. They enjoy the philosophies of religion but are immune to its control. They do not have a shiny ring in their nose, but speak of a shining light they call truth. They know of this light not because someone spoke of it, but because they had sought it out on their own. And so with much bravery and conviction they walked alone until the Light had spoken to them. From there, the road changed. The ivory tower church would become little more than a spectacle of excess funded by people of need. And the temples that abound would become the “temples” on each side of the head. Yep, enlightenment is grand. But it’s a real bitch for the NWO.

Dudley Dualism

One of the key components of churchology is a concept called dualism. We have engaged these concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, dead and alive our entire life. These polarizing precepts are so entrenched in our thinking that it is near impossible to see beyond them. People will say that it’s a lesson taught by nature. We see day and night and hot and cold. Surely duality is a fact of life. Only a fool would deny it.

Well, I’ve been called worse I suppose and the Beatles once wrote of a fool on a hill. If I recall correctly the lyrics weren’t half bad. For what I see is something a bit different indeed. To an observant eye, there does not exist just day and night, but a twilight and dawn too. Nature has shown me not the duality of polarizing opposites, but rather circles of continuation. In this third density playground we often think in very polarizing ways. But in your spiritual space feel free to let go of the polarizing twins.

Duality is religion’s greatest tool. No duality, no religion. Day and night are not extreme opposites but an endless circle. Nature does not consider day and night as opposite so why should you? They are simply transitions in a flowing continuum. The Sun will rise in the light of dawn and set for the twilight hour. The night ushers in a canopy of stars and the moon will speak to those who will listen. And the cosmic wheel will turn upon the Polaris hub and the celestial sky will beckon and yield to yet another day. It is not opposite or polar— it is a circle of continuation, just as we are in a circle of continuation.

Yes, even good and evil have shades between. There’s a balance between the two and it’s forms a circle rather than a line. We can think of the Yin Yang as a model of this, as it even alludes to the transitional nodes that fall between dark and light. The only time something is polarizing is when it’s absolute. If one subscribes to the notion of absolute evil, then one must also maintain that light has never ventured into that desolate void. Hmmm— that sort of takes me to my next thought.

New World Order

The incremental goal of the entity sometimes referred to as “Illuminati” or “global elite” is to initiate a new world order comprised of borderless nations, a single currency and a unifying religion. This idea may seem benign and altruistic to the uniformed. They may believe this would usher in a forward leap in societal evolution. Nothing could be further from the truth. In their fantastical vision of a new world there would ultimately be just a handful of people hanging out at the five-star restaurant/casino at the top of their thirty-three story golden pyramid. They would control essentially every aspect of our lives under the cover of some quasi-democratic scheme of governance. Moving from one country to another to escape an intolerable regime would cease to be an option. In other words, there would be no place to hide.

Well, things are pretty much starting to shape up this way already. With well-established global entities like the International Monetary Fund, United Nations and the Council on Foreign Relations, we are well on our way toward global governance. And then there’s the issue of borders. Back in January of 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico (NAFTA) entered into force. When interviewed by the Los Angeles Times in July, 1993, Henry Kissinger made the following comment regarding NAFTA. He stated “it will represent the most creative step toward a New World Order taken by any group of countries since the end of the cold war. The revolution sweeping the Western hemisphere points to an international order based on cooperation. It is this revolution that is at stake in the ratification of NAFTA. What congress will have before it is not a conventional trade agreement, but the Architecture of a new international system.” That was Kissinger’s polite way of saying— do this or else!

And now the issue of immigration has boiled over the pot with the U.N. suggesting that the recent influx of undocumented immigrants be labeled “refugees” instead of illegal aliens. So it would seem that we will see borders continue to erode and it’s conceivable that they will dissolve completely at some point. In a perfect world there would be no need for borders. But we are not in a perfect world and the people who are calling the shots are essentially psychopaths that thirst for control and domination.

And the monetary system— well they’re working on that to. The “amero,” the monetary union of Canada, the United States and Mexico will undoubtedly be back on the table in one form or another and will be force-fed to us just as Europe was force-fed the euro. The euro replaced the national currencies of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria, Finland, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands back in 2002.

But the one world religion— well, they already have that in the bag. In my humble opinion, subscribing to any faith-based organization is paramount to being one with the state. Such souls are already under the spell of an external, synthetic influence. The breakdown goes something like this: approximately (17) percent of the world population is Catholic, Protestants represent 5 percent, other Christians, Anglicans and Orthodox weight in at 15.7 percent combined, 21 percent are Muslim and 13.3 percent call themselves Hindu. Other religions including Buddhist, spiritual and the non-religious comprise roughly 28 percent of the global population. So in conclusion, approximately 72 percent of the world abides by a fairly rigid religious pedigree.

Final Thought

Yes, as separate as they may seem, all major world religions have their legions of followers and charismatic leaders. The ideologies are rooted in dualistic models of good and evil, heaven and hell. They are scripted with stories of triumph and defeat and with metaphors that open gateways for a multitude of interpretation. They are anchored into what we inherently know to be true and manipulate meaning to serve a specific purpose.

It was not my intention to cause strife or hurt feelings. I love all people regardless of race, gender, political ideology and yep, religion. But I know what organized religion has done to societies in the past and I know what they are capable of doing today. The seventeen versions of the Bible were written by councils of men, and each was tailored for a certain purpose. And though there is much wisdom to be gleaned in these texts, they offer no substitute for that Divine connection we are all capable of with Source.

I am not religious. I am spiritual. My experience is unique to me and that’s the extent of it. I have found my truth without a permission slip and I have walked alone in the cold looking for the light. I would not be told how I should think or how I should feel. There were times I felt a need to hold a hand on this lonely path of self-discovery. One day a hand reached down to me and I knew I was not alone. I know you’re not alone either.

I see the Sun is setting now, and His light rays are “walking” on water. They say we should not stare at the Sun, but I care not what they say. I am, after all, the fool on the hill.

-Until next time

About the Author

There is a certain obscurity that follows Julian Wash. After all, any writer that starts off with “Dear Humans” might be a little hard to nail down. We sense he’s benevolent, a little crazy and we think rather enjoyable to read. Email: jwash@rattlereport.com

**This article was originally published at The Rattle Report.**

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

16 Signs That You’re a Slave to the Matrix

Introduction to the article – We have to begin challenging ourselves and our belief systems at this point in our human history. If we begin to challenge ourselves and our belief systems we will begin to see the patterns of behavior in how we deal with ourselves and others, set in place largely as defense mechanisms. We can begin to see how much of our mind is in ‘the machine’ and how much the machine is affecting humanity and Mother Earth. When we get our mind out of the machine, we can begin to challenge it, and the powers that were, and create something Divine.

Today’s world is a strange place. We are inundated with signals from early on in life, encouraging each of us to walk a particular path, establishing blinders on us along the way to discourage us from looking for alternatives to what the herd is doing or thinking. Life is so complex that overtime, if we are paying attention, we realize that there are an infinite number of possibilities to what the human experience could be, and we come see that the world is on fire because individuals all too infrequently question why things are the way they are, failing to notice that their mindset or behavior needs adjustment in favor of more intelligent, common sensical, or sustainable patterns of existence.

Not meant to be overtly critical of anyone’s lifestyle choices or personal situation, the following 16 signs that you’re a slave to the matrix are meant purely as an observational approach to helping you identify the areas of your life where you may be missing an opportunity to liberate yourself from someone else’s self-destructive design for your life.

Read on, and please take a moment to comment below with anything you’d like to add to the list or object to.

1. You pay taxes to people you’d like to see locked up in jail. This is perhaps the biggest indicator that we are slaves to the matrix. The traditional notion of slavery conjures up images of people in shackles forced to work on plantations to support rich plantation owners. The modern day version of this is forced taxation, where our incomes are automatically docked before we ever see the money, regardless of whether or not we approve of how the money is spent.
2. You go to the doctor, but you’re still sick. Modern medical care, for all of it’s scientific progress, has sadly become sick care, where we are rarely advised to eat well and tend to our mental and physical health, but instead are routinely advised to consume expensive medications and procedures that are pushed by the for-profit healthcare matrix. 
3. You’ve picked Team Democrat or Team Republican and argue with your friends, family and co-workers about politics. This is what the control strategy of divide and conquer looks like in our society. Both of the major parties are corrupt through and through, and independent candidates are not even allowed to. By believing in one of these parties and burning your personal energy on arguing with other ordinary people you are turning over your soul the matrix, and doing your share in making sure that ‘we the people’ will never be united against corruption
4. You work hard doing something you hate to earn fiat dollars. Work is important and money does pay the bills, however, so many people lose the best years of their lives doing things they hate, just for money. The truth about money today is that we do not have money, but instead, inflationary fiat currency that is privately owned and manipulated. Since it is still necessary to get by in this world, it is best that you get more value for your time by doing something you enjoy or by working with people you do not despise. It is easier than you may think to live on less money than we believe we need, we just have to be willing to go against the grain realize this.
5. You’re willing to accrue personal debt to fund the acquisition of consumer a consumer oriented lifestyle. Each time a credit card is swiped it creates digits on the balance sheets of the banks that are most involved with the financial looting of the world today. These digits are then multiplied electronically by the fractional reserve system in place, which exponentially increases the power of these institutions. To participate in this, and by agreeing to pay this fake money back with interest, in order to maintain a certain lifestyle is a strong indication that you are bound by one of the main tenets of the matrix – consumerism.
6. You converse with real people about the ongoing happenings of TV shows. TV is the most potent tool used for mind control, and the ‘programming’ that is available, while certainly cool, fun, or entertaining is geared to reinforce certain behaviors amongst the masses. Dramatizing the ego’s importance, over sexualizing everything, glorifying violence, and teaching submissiveness to phony authority are the main features of modern TV. By taking what is happening onscreen and making it a part of your real life, you are doing your job of supporting the matrix’s desire to confuse us about the nature of reality, proving that something doesn’t have to actually happen in order it to feel real to people.
7. You don’t have anything to hide from total surveillance. If it does not bother you that someone, somewhere, working for somebody is watching you, listening to your conversations, and monitoring your movements, then, you are a good slave to the matrix. Invisible surveillance is an insidious form of thought control, and by using the logic of, ‘I have nothing to hide, therefore, it will do me no harm to be surveilled,’ then you are mindlessly admitting that you have an earthly master and are not of sovereign mind and body.
8. You think the world would be safer it only governments had guns. This is a violent world, and criminals engage in criminality against honest people at every level of society, including from within the government. Sure, in a perfect world, weapons wouldn’t be necessary for anyone but, sadly, our world is anything but perfect, and firearms are indeed a very effective form of protection against common criminals and abusive governments alike. The willingness to forego your right to self-defense is a sign that you’ve relegated personal responsibility to someone else. Having the masses abdicate personal responsibility is one of the most important aspects of controlling them. Welcome to the matrix.
9. You knowingly drink fluoridated water. Of all the health debates taking place today, the topic of fluoridated water is the easiest to understand, for it is a toxic by-product of an industrial process. Water is supposedly fluoridated to aid in dental health, which is debatable in itself, but if this were so, then the involuntary fluoridation of public water is a medication without your consent… a form of slavery. Knowing this and continuing to drink fluoridated water is a sign that you’re content with your slavery to the matrix. Here are 18 scientifically validated reasons to end public water fluoridation.
10. You knowingly consume toxic poisons like MSG and Aspartame. These two chemicals are widely known to be toxic to the human body. Knowing this and continuing to poison yourself with tasty, but chemical-laden processed foods is a sign that the matrix has programmed you to place less value on your health and future than on your immediate gratification.
11. You depend on the pharmaceutical industrial complex for the management of your own mental health. The use of psychotropic medicines is rising rapidly in our society because people have been convinced that mental states are similar to diseases, while the truth about natural mental health has been obfuscated by corporate media and a for-profit medical establishment. If you’re taking psychotropic medications, then you are under one of the most potent forms of mind control available. Part of this control is to convince you that you have no authority over your own mind. This is perhaps the matrix’s most terrible lie, and by willingly taking these psychotropic medications you are conforming to the worst kind of slavery, and inhibiting your natural mental and emotional responses to the life stressors that are signaling to you that you need to change your behavior and habits.
12. You haven’t yet stopped watching your local and national news programming. The mainstream news media is a tool of control and manipulation, and by continuing to support their ideas and world views by giving them your attention you are volunteering to be a slave to this not-so-subtle form of mental programming. Even the local news is scripted at the national level by agents of the handful of corporations tasked with shaping our opinions of events.
13. You’re more concerned with televised sports or other mindless distractions than you are with the quality of your natural environment. The Deepwater Horizon, Alberta Tar Sands, the rise of Fracking, the sacrifice of the Amazon, and Fukushima are all life-changing events that will severely impact the our future on planet earth. To be unconcerned with all of this while tuning into a never-ending stream of sports trivia and distraction-based living is a sign that your sense of self-preservation has been stolen and replaced with an impulsive tendency for triviality and escapism.
14. 14. You’re skeptical of any area of life that hasn’t been ‘proven’ or validated by modern science. The very essence of science is the inquiry into the unknown, implying that until science can grasp something, it is unexplainable. By discrediting or ridiculing experiences that other people have, yet evade scientific understanding, like near-death experiences, acupuncture, or the life changing effects of Ayahuasca, then you are slavishly reducing your understanding of the world to a narrow range of possibilities. The matrix is made possible by efforts of volunteer gatekeepers people who are unwilling to think outside of the box.
15. You’ve never questioned the popularized version of ancient history and the origins of our civilization. There are many unanswered questions about the origins of the human race that point to a different version of human history than what is taught in school. Read 2o history questions they refuse to answer in school to discover some of the many ways in which our history has been hijacked. By never questioning what we’ve been told about our origin we are acquiescing to many of the imposed belief systems and narrow-banded views of human potential that the matrix promotes.
16. You haven’t yet realized that you are a spiritual being living a human experience. 

If you can relate to any of the items on this list, then the matrix has you, and it is now your duty to engage more deeply in your liberation.

If you’d like to add to or object to anything on this list, then please do so in the comments section below, and be sure to share this with your friends.

About the Author

Sigmund Fraud is a survivor of modern psychiatry and a dedicated mental activist. He is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com where he indulges in the possibility of a massive shift towards a more psychologically aware future for mankind.

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

How to Reclaim Your Mind

 

This is an important piece for those that wish to begin walking their true path in life. Many, including myself, fall victim to advertising, propaganda, and poor food choices that all cloud our true thoughts and beliefs. There are many systems in place to gently steer the way we think until we find ourselves living a life that we are not happy with.

“We can judge our health by our happiness, and by our happiness we know that we’re obeying the dictates of our Souls.” – Edward Bach

The reason I used the words “true path” is that we are all here to experience certain things and learn from them. When one is on the true path, the lessons are not as difficult, nor are they often missed. This leads to faster progression, happiness, and a more fulfilling life. It is only when we have lost our way through false beliefs that we didn’t choose and foggy thinking that clouds decisions that we miss opportunity and eventually lead lives with more unhappiness. Oftentimes, having to repeat lessons over and over until we finally get it right and learn from them.

“Everything happens for a reason. Everything leads to something better.” – Dr. Richard Alan Miller

The art of reclaiming your mind can be split into parts: what goes in and what comes out. When these components are aligned, reclaimed, and optimized, you are truly living from free will and your life will change for the better.

Nutrition

This is meant to be your own personal cheat sheet to help you focus on key areas. First and foremost, stop eating gluten! It’s no longer difficult to avoid it. The market has listened to customer demand and products are abundant to seamlessly substitute your current gluten intake. Remember, not everyone has celiac disease, but everyone’s brain is effected by gluten. The book Wheat Belly by William Davis M.D., is a great place to start. While we are on the topic of diet, David Wolf’s book The Sunfood Diet is a further step in the progression towards detox and clarity. In it, he advocates a food triangle in which the corners represent chlorophyll (organic, non-GMO green leafy vegetables), fats (organic, non-GMO fatty fruits, nuts, seeds, coconuts), and sugars (organic non-GMO sweet fruits) all at a ratio of 33%. No mind clearing nutritional regime would be complete without addressing a fluoride detox program. To date, the best supplements out there appears to be Zeotex and Fluoride Shield. Although each should do their own further research. If you would like to stick with a whole food approach, this article link from TrueActivist.comcovers it all. Given the lack of integrity of pro-GMO companies and some disastrous research being released, I would suggest avoiding all GMO foods, period.

“Your food determines in a large measure how long you shall live – how much you shall enjoy life – and how successful your life shall be.” – Dr. Kirschner

Beliefs

Many of our beliefs were formed as children before we had a say in the matter. In addition, many of our early beliefs are no long applicable, or even functional, towards meeting our current needs and lifestyle directions. Regardless of what we believe, we will find a way to create consistency between our life and beliefs. For this reason, beliefs, for the believer, are always true. The brain is a powerful, goal seeking mechanism that will make anything we believe in come true. Or it will, at least, make it appear to be true which amounts to the same thing as far as our life experiences are concerned. Challenge your beliefs! Do not accept results that you don’t seek created by beliefs you did not choose. Face one fear or uncomfortable situation daily. Leaning to meditate makes us more consciously aware of what we are creating. The practice of meditation also has the benefit on mitigating the effects of the recent increase in solar flares impacting our mental, emotional, and physical bodies. According to Dr. Simon Atkins, this increase will be seen for the next 18 months. A float tank will fast track your meditation technique and is on record for the ability tounlock the creative centers of the brain, alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, and enhance the ability to stay focused and concentrate.

“The middle of the road is where the white line is – and that’s the worst place to drive.” – Robert Frost

Kill Your TV

There is no question this one is a major action step to reclaiming your mind. Watching television almost instantly switches your brainwaves into the alpha state (tranquility, relaxation, pleasure, suggestibility etc.). Is it any wonder that it’s called programming? Themind has no firewall security and is wide open. Watch a child as they begin to gaze upon the television. Their blinking becomes lessened, mouth drops open, body posture “melts” and they become unresponsive to outside influences such as having their name called. High definition television only amplifies this effect. If you watch TV, I suggest you stay away from the HD channels, mainstream media, and political speeches.

“I find television very educating. Every time someone turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” – Groucho Marx

Vaccinations

This is a debated topic and I will only be focusing on what are referred to as adjuvants. Adjuvants are chemicals that are added to the vaccines. Although I could focus on any one of a slew of toxic contaminants (adjuvants) found within each shot, mercury (thimerosal) and aluminum are in the cross hairs for this section. Mercury is toxic to the human body, period. It is a fact that it kills/degenerates brain neurons. Aluminum, is again toxic to the body but also makes the immune system overreact, sometimes for up to two years. The body had numerous filtering systems to protect toxic or poisonous substances from entering the bloodstream. If something toxic is eaten, it is typically eliminated or substantially weakened before it finally reaches the blood/circulatory system. However, with vaccines, that process is sidestepped by injecting the toxin directly into the bloodstream. This allows it free reign to cause damage to the areas it comes in contact with such as brain neurons. Don’t just take my word for it, the United States Postal Service classifies mercury as a class 8 hazard under section 348.21 Nonmailable Corrosives. For a comprehensive look at the entire topic of vaccines, please see the work of Dr. Sherry Tenpenny, Dr. Russul Blaylock, and Dr. Andrew Wakefeild.

“The greatest lie ever told is that vaccines are safe and effective. – Leonard Horowitz

About the AuthorJeffery Jaxen is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and an open source researcher and writer. In addition he serves as director of alternative & holistic health for the Awake & Empowered Expo. You can find his latest research, information, and work at the following websites: www.jeffereyjaxen.com & www.awakeandempoweredexpo.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JeffereyJaxen or contact him directly at http://www.jeffereyjaxen.com/contact.html

This article is from Waking Times and is written by Jeffery Jaxen. Waking Times’ material is Creative Commons, meaning it’s OK to republish with author attribute and all links intact.

6 Ridiculous Lies About the Founding of America

For instance …

#6. The Indians Weren’t Defeated by White Settlers

The Myth:

Our history books don’t really go into a ton of detail about how the Indians became an endangered species. Some warring, some smallpox blankets and … death by broken heart?

When American Indians show up in movies made by conscientious white people like Oliver Stone, they usually lament having their land taken from them. The implication is that Native Americans died off like a species of tree-burrowing owl that couldn’t hack it once their natural habitat was paved over.

But if we had to put the whole Cowboys and Indians battle in a Hollywood log line, we’d say the Indians put up a good fight, but were no match for the white man’s superior technology. As surely as scissors cuts paper and rock smashes scissors, gun beats arrow. That’s just how it works.

This is all the American history you’ll ever need to know.

The Truth:

There’s a pretty important detail our movies and textbooks left out of the handoff from Native Americans to white European settlers: It begins in the immediate aftermath of a full-blown apocalypse. In the decades between Columbus’ discovery of America and the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, the most devastating plague in human history raced up the East Coast of America. Just two years before the pilgrims started the tape recorder on New England’s written history, the plague wiped out about 96 percent of the Indians in Massachusetts.

In the years before the plague turned America into The Stand, a sailor named Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed up the East Coast and described it as “densely populated” and so “smoky with Indian bonfires” that you could smell them burning hundreds of miles out at sea. Using your history books to understand what America was like in the 100 years after Columbus landed there is like trying to understand what modern day Manhattan is like based on the post-apocalyptic scenes from I Am Legend.

“They call it ‘The city that never sleeps’ because the only guy who lives there is a notoriously sarcastic rapper.”

Historians estimate that before the plague, America’s population was anywhere between 20 and 100 million (Europe’s at the time was 70 million). The plague would eventually sweep West, killing at least 90 percent of the native population. For comparison’s sake, the Black Plague killed off between 30 and 60 percent of Europe’s population.

While this all might seem like some to lay on a bunch of second graders, your high school and college history books weren’t exactly in a hurry to tell you the full story. Which is strange, because many historians believe it is the single most important event in American history. But it’s just more fun to believe that your ancestors won the land by being the superior culture.

Getty

Yay for apocalypse profiteering!

European settlers had a hard enough time defeating the Mad Max-style stragglers of the once huge Native American population, even with superior technology. You have to assume that the Native Americans at full strength would have made powerfully real for any pale faces trying to settle the country they had already settled. Of course, we don’t really need to assume anything about how real the American Indians kept it, thanks to the many people who came before the pilgrims. For instance, if you liked playing cowboys and Indians as a kid, you should know that you could have been playing vikings and Indians, because that actually happened. But before we get to how they kicked Viking ass, you probably need to know that …

#5. Native Culture Wasn’t Primitive

The Myth:

American Indians lived in balance with mother earth, father moon, brother coyote and sister … bear? Does that just sound right because of the Berenstain Bears? Whichever animal they thought was their sister, the point is, the Indians were leaving behind a small carbon footprint before elements were wearing shoes. If the government was taken over by hippies tomorrow, the directionless, ecologically friendly society they’d institute is about what we picture the Native Americans as having lived like.

“Our foreign policy can be summed up with one word: peyote.”

The Truth:

The Indians were so good at killing trees that a team of Stanford environmental scientists think they caused a mini ice age in Europe. When all of the tree-clearing Indians died in the plague, so many trees grew back that it had a reverse global warming effect. More carbon dioxide was sucked from the air, the Earth’s atmosphere held on to less heat, and Al Gore cried a single tear of joy.

One of the best examples of how we got Native Americans all wrong is Cahokia, a massive Native American city located in modern day East St. Louis. In 1250, it was bigger than London, and featured a sophisticated society with an urban center, satellite villages and thatched-roof houses lining the central plazas. While the city was abandoned by the time white people got to it, the evidence they left behind suggests a complex economy with trade routes from the Great Lakes all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.

Herb Roe
Contrary to what museums told us, the loin cloth was not the most advanced Native American technology.

And that’s not even mentioning America’s version of the Great Pyramid: Monk’s Mound. You know how people treat the very existence of the Great Pyramid in Egypt as one of history’s most confounding mysteries? Well, Cahokia’s pyramid dwarfs that one, both in size and in degree of difficulty. The mound contains more than 2.16 billion pounds of soil, some of which had to be carried from hundreds of miles away, to make sure the city’s giant monument was vividly colored. To put that in perspective, all 13 million people who live in the state of Illinois today would have to carry three 50-pound baskets of soil from as far away as Indiana to construct another one.

“What if we built a middle finger large enough to flip off “fill in the blank”?”

So why does Egypt get millions of dollars of tourism and Time Life documentaries dedicated to their boring old sand pyramids, while you didn’t even know about the giant blue, red, white, black, gray, brown and orange testament to engineering and human willpower just outside of St. Louis? Well, because the Egyptians know how to treat one of the Eight Wonders of the World. America, on the other hand, appears to be trying to figure out how to turn it into a parking lot.

World Pyramids
But think of all the parking!

In the realm of personal hygiene, the Europeans out-hippied the Indians by a foul smelling mile. Europeans at the time thought baths attracted the black humors, because they never washed and were amazed by the Indians’ interest in personal cleanliness. The natives, for their part, viewed Europeans as “just plain smelly”according to first hand records.

The Native Americans didn’t hate Europeans just for the clouds of awfulness they dragged around behind them. Missionaries met Indians who thought Europeans were “physically weak, sexually untrustworthy, atrociously ugly” and “possessed little intelligence in comparison to themselves.” The Europeans didn’t do much to debunk the comparison in the physical beauty department. Verrazzano, the sailor who witnessed the densely populated East Coast, called a native who boarded his ship “as beautiful in stature and build as I can possibly describe,” before presumably adding, “you know, for a dude.” This man-crush wasn’t an isolated incident. British fisherman William Wood described the Indians in New England as “more amiable to behold, though dressed only in Adam’s finery, than … an English dandy in the newest fashion.” Or, with the removed, “Better looking than any of us, and they’re not even trying.”

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“Oh yeah, this is just my walkin’ around paint.”

OK, now that we got that out of the way, we can tell you about the historical slash-fiction your history teacher forgot to tell you actually freaking happened.

#4. Columbus Didn’t Discover America: Vikings vs. Indians

The Myth:

America was discovered in 1492 because Europeans were starting to get curious about the outside world thanks to the Renaissance and Enlightenment and Europeans of the time just generally being the first smart people ever. Columbus named the people who already lived there Indians, presumably because he was being charmingly self-deprecating.

“I don’t know what we’ll call the people from actual India. That’s the future’s problem.”

The Truth:

Here’s what we know. A bunch of vikings set up a successful colony in Greenland that lasted for 518 years (982-1500). To put that into perspective, the white European settlement currently known as the United States will need to wait until the year 2125 to match that longevity. The vikings spent a good portion of that time sending expeditions down south to try to settle what they called Vineland — which historians now believe was the East Coast of North America. Some place the vikings as far south as modern day North Carolina.

“The South will pillage again!”

After spending a couple decades sneaking ashore to raid Vineland of its ample wood pulp, the vikings made a go of settling North America in 1005. After landing there with livestock, supplies and between 100 and 300 settlers, they set up the first successful European American colony … for two years. And then the Native Americans kicked out of the country, shooting the head viking in the heart with an arrow.

So to recap, the vikings discovered America. They were camping off the coast of America, and had every reason to settle America for about 500 years. Despite being the biggest badasses in European history, one tangle with the natives was enough to convince the vikings that settling America wasn’t worth the trouble. If you think the pilgrims would have fared any better than the vikings against an East Coast chock-full of Native Americans, you either don’t know what a viking is or you’re placing entirely too much stock in the strategic importance of having belt buckles on your shoes.

If the Indians had been at full strength in 1640, white people might still be sneaking onto the East Coast to steal wood pulp. That’s as far as the vikings got in 500 years, and they were sailing from much closer than Europe and desperately needed the resources — the two competing theories for why the viking settlements on Greenland eventually died out are lack of resources and getting killed by natives — and, perhaps most importantly, they were vikings.

So why did your history teachers lie? This should have been history teachers’ version of dinosaurs: a mostly unknown period of violent awesomeness they nevertheless told you about because they knew it would hook every male between the ages of 5 and 12 forever.

Consider this one a freebie, Hollywood.

It turns out that many of the awesomest stories had to be paved over by the you memorized in order to protect your teachers and parents from awkward conversations. Like the one about how …

#3. Everything You Know About Columbus Is a Calculated Lie

The Myth:

Columbus discovered America thanks to a daring journey across the Atlantic. His crew was about to throw him overboard when land was spotted. Even after he landed in America, Columbus didn’t realize he’d discovered an entire continent because maps of America were far less reliable back then. In one of the great tragedies of history, Columbus went to his grave poor, believing he’d merely discovered India. Nobody really “got” America’s potential until the pilgrims showed up and successfully settled the country for the first time. Nearly 150 years might seem like a long time between trips, but boats were really slow back in those days, and they’d just learned that the Atlantic Ocean went that far.

“Pile into a tiny boat with dozens of filthy people for months on end” isn’t the world’s most attractive sales pitch.

The Truth:

First of all, Columbus wasn’t the first to cross the Atlantic. Nor were the vikings. Two Native Americans landed in Holland in 60 B.C. and were promptly not given a national holiday by anyone. Columbus didn’t see the enormous significance of his ability to cross the Atlantic because it wasn’t especially significant. His voyage wasn’t particularly difficult. They enjoyed smooth sailing, and nobody was threatening to throw him overboard. Despite what history books tell kids (and the Internet apparently believes), Columbus died wealthy, and with a pretty good idea of what he’d found — on his third voyage to America, he wrote in his journal, “I have come to believe that this is a mighty continent which was hitherto unknown.”

“Unknown” in this context means “inhabited by tens of millions.”

The myths surrounding him cover up the fact that Columbus was calculating, shrewd and as hungry for gold as the voice over guy in the Cash4Gold ads. When he couldn’t find enough of the yellow stuff to make his voyage profitable, he focused on enslaving Native Americans for profit. That’s how efficient Columbus was — he discovered America and invented American slavery in the same 15-year span.

There were plenty of unsuccessful, mostly horrible attempts to settle America between Columbus’ discovery and the pilgrims’ arrival. We only hear these two “settling of America” stories because history books and movies aren’t huge fans of what white people got up to between 1492 and 1620 in America — mostly digging for gold and eating each other.

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When people talk about traditional American values, this is what they mean.

They also show us white Europeans being unable to easily defeat a native population that hadn’t yet been ravaged by plague. It wasn’t coincidence that the pilgrims settled America two years after New England was emptied of 96 percent of the Indians who lived there. According to James W. Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me, that’s generally how the settling process went: The plague acted as a lead blocker for white European settlers, clearing the land of all the natives. The Europeans had superior weapons, but they also had superior guns when they tried to colonize China, India, Africa and basically every other region on the planet. When you picture Chinese or Indian or African people today, they’re not white because those lands were already inhabited when the Europeans showed up. And so was America.

American history goes to almost comical lengths to ignore that fact. For instance, if your reading comprehension was strong in middle school, you might remember the lost colony of Roanoke, where the people mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind only one cryptic clue: the word “Croatan” carved into the town post. As we’ve covered before, this is only a mystery if you are the worst detective ever. Croatan was the name of a nearby island populated by friendly Native Americans. In the years after the people of Roanoke “disappeared,” genetically impossible Native Americans with gray eyes and an “astounding” familiarity with distinctly European customs began to pop up in the tribes that moved between Croatan and Roanoke islands.

“It must be written in a cypher of some sort. Let’s just go ahead and call it alien abduction.”

#2. White Settlers Did Not Carve America Out of the Untamed Wilderness

The Myth:

The pilgrims were the first in a parade of brave settlers who pushed civilization westward along the frontier with elbow grease and sheer grizzled-old-man strength.

The Truth:

In written records from early colonial times, you constantly come across “settlers” being shocked at how convenient the American wilderness made things for them. The eastern forests, generally portrayed by great American writers as a “thick, unbroken snarl of trees” no longer existed by the time the white European settlers actually showed up. The pilgrims couldn’t believe their luck when they found that American forests just naturally contained “an ecological kaleidosocope of garden plots, blackberry rambles, pine barrens and spacious groves of chestnut, hickory and oak.”

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“We have hours of weeding ahead of us, but by the grace of God, we will persevere.”

The puzzlingly obedient wilderness didn’t stop in New England. Frontiersmen who settled what is today Ohio were psyched to find that the forest there naturally grew in a way that “resembled English parks.” You could drive carriages through the untamed frontier without burning a single calorie clearing rocks, trees and shrubbery.

Whether they honestly believed they’d lucked into the 17th century equivalent of Candyland or were being willfully ignorant about how the land got so tamed, the truth about the presettled wilderness didn’t make it into the official account. It’s the same reason every extraordinarily lucky CEO of the past 100 years has written a book about leadership. It’s always a better idea to credit hard work and intelligence than to acknowledge that you just got luckier than any group of people has ever gotten in the history of the world.

“Holy crap, it’s already wired for Wi-Fi!”

Nobody’s role in settling America has been quite as overplayed as the pilgrims’. Despite famous sermons with titles like “Into the Wilderness,” the pilgrims cherry-picked Plymouth specifically because it was a recently abandoned town. After sailing up and down the coast of Cape Cod, they chose Plymouth Rock because of “its beautiful cleared fields, recently planted in corn, and its useful harbor.”

We’re always told that the pilgrims were helped by an Indian named Squanto who spoke English. How the hell did that happen? Had he taken AP English in high school? The answer to that question is the greatest story your history teachers didn’t bother to teach you. Squanto was from the town that would become Plymouth, but between being born there and the pilgrims’ arrival, he’d undergone an epic journey that puts Homer’s Odyssey to shame.

And at the end, instead of tending to his family, he had to teach white people how to bury dead fish with corn kernels.

Squanto had been kidnapped from Cape Cod as a child and sold into slavery in Spain. He escaped like the boy Maximus he was, and spent his better years hoofing it west until he hit the Atlantic Ocean. Deciding that swimming back to America would take too much time, he learned enough English to convince someone to let him hitch a ride to “the New World.” When he finally got back home, he found his town deserted. The plague had swept through two years before, taking everyone but him with it.

When the pilgrims showed up, instead of being pissed at the people from the Continent who had stolen his ability to grow up with his family, he decided that since nobody else was using it, he might as well show them how to make his town work.

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“And this is the sea. I’d recommend bathing in it, because you people smell like really bad.”

This is especially charitable of him when you realize that, while the pilgrims were nicer than past settlers, they weren’t exactly sensitive to Squanto’s plight. According to a pilgrim journal from the days immediately after they arrived, they raided Indian graves for “bowls, trays, dishes and things like that. We took several of the prettiest things to carry away with us, and covered the body up again.” And yet Squanto taught them how to make it through a winter without turning to cannibalism — a landmark accomplishment for the British to that point.

Compare that to Jamestown, the first successful settlement in American history. You don’t know the name of the ship that landed there because the settlers antagonized the natives, just like the vikings who came before them. The Native Americans didn’t have to actively kill them. They just sat back and laughed as the English spent the harvest seasons digging holes for gold. The first Virginians were so desperate without a Squanto that they went from taking Indian slaves to offering themselves up as slaves to the Indians in exchange for food. Enough English managed to survive there to make Jamestown the oldest successful colonial settlement in America. But it’s hard to turn it into a religious allegory in which white people are the good guys, so we get the pilgrims instead.

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If this were accurate, the settlers would be in bushes while the Indians told them which leaves were safe to wipe with.

#1. How Indians Influenced Modern America

The Myth:

After the natives helped the pilgrims get through that first winter, all playing nice disappeared until Dances with Wolves. Even the movies that do portray white people going native portray it as a shocking exception to the rule. Otherwise, the only influence the natives seem to have on the New World and the frontiersmen is giving them moving targets to shoot at, and eventually a plot outline for Avatar.

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It’s pretty much just this and Kevin Costner until Wounded Knee.

The Truth:

The fake mystery of Roanoke is a pretty good key for understanding the difference between how white settlers actually felt about American Indians and how hard your history books had to ignore that reality. Settlers defecting to join native society was so common that it became a major issue for colonial leaders — think the modern immigration debate, except with all the white people risking their lives to get out of American society. According to Loewen, “Europeans were always trying to stop the outflow. Hernando De Soto had to post guards to keep his men and women from defecting to Native societies.” Pilgrims were so scared of Indian influence that they outlawed the wearing of long hair.

Ben Franklin noted that, “No European who has tasted Savage Life can afterwards bear to live in our societies.” While “always bet on black” might have been sound financial advice by the time Wesley Snipes offered it, Ben Franklin knew that for much of American history, it was equally advisable to bet on red.

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“It’s this, or powdered wigs and sexual repression.”

Franklin wasn’t pointing this out as a critique of the settlers who defected — he believed that Indian societies provided greater opportunities for happiness than European cultures — and he wasn’t the only Founding Father who thought settlers could learn a thing or two from them. They didn’t dress up like Indians at the Boston Tea Party ironically. That was common protesting gear during the American revolutions.

For a hundred years after the American Revolution, none of this was a secret. Political cartoonists used Indians to represent the colonial side. Colonial soldiers dressed up like Indians when fighting the British. Documents from the time indicate that the design of the U.S. government was at least partially inspired by native tribal society. Historians think the Iroquois Confederacy had a direct influence on the U.S. Constitution, and the Senate even passed a resolution acknowledging that “the confederation of the original thirteen colonies into one republic was influenced … by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the constitution itself.”

If we’d incorporated their fashion sense, C-SPAN would be more interesting.

That wasn’t just Congress trying to get some Indian casino money. The colonists came from European countries that had spent most of their time as monarchies and much of their resources fighting religious wars with each other. They initially tried to set up the colonies exactly like Western Europe — a series of small, in-fighting nations stacked on top of each other. The idea of an overarching confederacy of different independent states was completely foreign to them. Or it would have been. But as Ben Franklin noted in a letter about the failure to integrate with one another:

“It would be a strange thing if six nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a scheme for such a union and be able to execute it in such a manner as that it has subsisted ages and appears insoluble; and yet that a like union should be impracticable for 10 or a dozen English colonies.”

Join, or die (or plagiarize from the Indians).

In 1987, Cornell University held a conference on the link between the Iroquois’ government and the U.S. Constitution. It was noted that the Iroquois Great Law of Peace “includes ‘freedom of speech, freedom of religion … separation of power in government and checks and balances.”

Wow, checks and balances, freedom of speech and religion. Sounds awfully familiar.

One of the strangest legacies of America’s founding is our national obsession with the apocalypse. There’s a new JJ Abrams show coming this fall called The Revolution about a post-apocalyptic America, and of course The Hunger Games. We go to a gift shop in Arizona and see dug-up Indian arrowheads, and never think “this is the same thing as the stuff laying around in Terminator or The Road or that part in The Road Warrior where the feral kid finds a music box and doesn’t know what it is.”

We love the apocalypse as long as nobody acknowledges the truth: It’s not a mythical event. We live on top of one.

source: cracked.com

Psychologists Explain 9/11 Denial Despite Hard Scientific Evidence

 

Below is a transcript of the key parts of the video:

Why are people resistant to looking at the hard evidence regarding 9/11?

Marti Hopper, Ph.D (Licensed Clinical Psychologist):

At this point, we have nine years of hard scientific evidence that disproves the government theory about what happened on September 11.  Yet, people continue to be either oblivious to the fact that this information exists or completely resistant to looking at this information.  So, the question becomes: Why?

Why is it that people have so much trouble hearing this information? From my work, I think we would be remiss not to look at the impact of trauma…

As we know, the horrors of what happened on 9/11 were televised all over the world. They were televised, in fact, live.  We witnessed the deaths of almost 3,000 of our fellow Americans.  We know that this had a very severe and traumatic impact on a majority of the population.   I, myself, cried for weeks after September 11.

A friend of mine, who is a psychologist in practice here in Boulder, said that her case load increased tremendously after 9/11.  People who she had not seen in ten years were coming back into her practice.

So, I think it’s safe to say that collectively, as a nation, because of what happened on September 11, we experienced trauma.

9/11 Truth Conflicts with Our Worldview, Causing Cognitive Dissonance

Frances Shure, M.A. (Licensed Professional Counselor):

Why do people resist this information – the information that shows that the official story about 9/11 cannot be true?  What I’ve learned is that, as humans, each of us has a world view.  That worldview is usually formed, in great part, by the culture that we grow up in.

When we hear information that contradicts our worldview, social psychologists call the resulting insecurity cognitive dissonance. For example, with 9/11 we have one cognition, which is the official story of 9/11 – what our government told us, what our media repeated to us over and over – that 19 Muslims attacked us.

On the other hand, we have what scientists, researchers, architects, and engineers are now beginning to tell us, which is that there is evidence that shows that the official story cannot be true.  So now, we’ve lost our sense of security.  We are starting to feel vulnerable.  Now we’re confused.

Our Psychological Defenses Kick In When Our Beliefs Are Challenged

Robert Hopper, Ph.D. (Licensed Clinical Psychologist):

9/11 truth challenges our most fundamental beliefs about our government and about our country.  When your beliefs are challenged or when two beliefs are inconsistent, cognitive dissonance is created.  9/11 truth challenges the beliefs that our country protects and keeps us safe, and that America is the good guy….

When your beliefs are challenged, fear and anxiety are created. In response to that, our psychological defenses kick in and they protect us from these emotions.  Denial, which is probably the most primitive psychological is the one most likely to kick in when our beliefs are challenged.

It’s Easier to Deny the Truth

Danielle Duperet, PhD:

America is a powerful nation.  It has never been attacked.  We were confident.  We felt secure.  And all of a sudden, that security collapsed.  People started to be fearful with all of the rumors, with all of the news.  People didn’t know what to think, which is a very, very uncomfortable state to be in.  Eventually, our mind shuts off.   Just like when a computer is overloaded, our minds get overloaded.  We can’t handle it anymore and we shut down. It’s easier to deny it and move on with our lives.

Frances Shure, M.A. (Licensed Professional Counselor):

What some will tend to do is deny the evidence that is coming our way and stick to the original story, the official story.  We try to regain our equilibrium that way. Another thing that we can do is decide to look at the conflicting evidence and be sincere and open minded, and look at both sides of the issue.  And, then make up our own mind about what reality is.

We Will Do Just About Anything to Defend our Mental and Emotional Homes

Dorthy Lorig, M.A., Counseling Psychologist:

If we can think of our worldview as sort of being our mental and emotional home, I think that all of us will do just about anything to defend our homes, to defend our families.  I see that with people.  I saw that with myself when my brother tried to talk to me about it: “Don’t mess with me. Don’t mess with my home.  Don’t mess with my comfort with how things are.”

About a week later, I read a lengthy article by professor Griffin about why he believes the official account of 9/11 cannot be true.  It was a very well researched article.  I was in my office at the time.  I sat there and felt my stomach churning. I thought that maybe I was going to be sick. And, I leaped out my chair and ran out the door and took a long walk around the block – around several blocks – and just broke down.

I understand now that my worldview about my government being in some way my protector, like a parent, had been dashed.  It was like being cast out into the wilderness. I think that is the closest way to describe that feeling.

I sobbed and I sobbed.  I felt that the ground had completely disappeared beneath my feet.  And, I knew at some point during the walk that at some point I was going to have to become active educating other people about this.  For me to retain any sense of integrity, I was going to have to take some action.  I couldn’t just let something like this go.

 9/11 Truth Challenges Our Fundamental Beliefs About the World

Robert Hopper, Ph.D. (Licensed Clinical Psychologist):

Many people respond to these truths in a very deep way.  Some have a visceral reaction like that have been punched in the stomach.  To begin to accept the responsibility that the government was involved is like opening Pandora’s Box.  If you open the lid and peak in a little bit, it’s going to challenge some of your fundamental beliefs about the world.

Initial Reactions to Hearing Contradictory Evidence about 9/11

Frances Shure, M.A. (Licensed Professional Counselor):

Following are some of those spontaneous initial reactions to hearing the contradictory evidence about 9/11:

Robert Hopper, Ph.D. (Licensed Clinical Psychologist):

I don’t want to know the truth or I will become too negative and psychologically go downhill.

I’m not sure that I want to know.  If this is true then up will be down and down will be up. My life will never be the same.

Frances Shure, M.A. (Licensed Professional Counselor):

Fran, I refuse to believe that that many Americans can be that treasonous.  Someone would have talked.

Initial Reactions are Based on BELIEFS, NOT Scientific Facts

But these are BELIEFS.  They are NOT scientific fact.  But, these beliefs do KEEP US FROM LOOKING AT THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE.

9/11 Truth Contradicts People’s Paradigm

David Ray Griffin, Ph.D., professor/author:

You have empirical people who will simply say: look at the evidence and if it is convincing, I will change my mind.

Other people are paradigmatic people. They have a paradigm.  They say, this is the way the world works and I am convinced that this is the way that the world works.  9/11 doesn’t fit into that paradigm.  So, I don’t have to look at the evidence.  It’s paradigmatic.

And then there is a third type of person that we often call wishful thinkers.  I call it wishful and fearful thinking.  So, they simply will not believe something that they fear to be the truth.  And, I find that to be, maybe, the most powerful factor of people rejecting 9/11 truth and not even entertaining the evidence.

Frances Shure, M.A. (Licensed Professional Counselor):

The Truth is Not Bearable

So, whenever we say “I refuse to believe”, we can be sure that the evidence that’s coming our way is not bearable and it is conflicting with our worldview much too much.

Robert Hopper, Ph.D. (Licensed Clinical Psychologist):

Denial protects people from this kind of anxiety.

A Common Emotion is Fear

Frances Shure, M.A. (Licensed Professional Counselor):

As I thought about all of these responses, I realized that what is common to every one of them is emotion of fear.  People are afraid of being ostracized, they are afraid of being alienated, they are afraid of being shunned.  They are afraid of their lives being inconvenienced – they’ll have to change their lives. They are afraid of being confused.  They are afraid of psychological deterioration.  They are afraid of feeling helpless and vulnerable.  And, they are afraid that they won’t be able to handle the feelings coming up.

When Presented with the Truth, Those in Denial Become Angry, Indignant, Offended,  and Ridicule the Messenger

None of want to feel helpless and vulnerable.  So, we want to defend ourselves.   And, the way that we often do that is with anger.  Then we become angry.  And, when we become angry, then we become indignant.  We become offended.  We want to ridicule the messenger. We want to pathologize the messenger.  And, we want to censor the messenger.

Raise Awareness with Gentle Dialogue and Gentle Questioning

Robert Hopper, Ph.D. (Licensed Clinical Psychologist)

So, how can we overcome this resistance in denial?  The first thing is to meet people where they are at.

John Freedom, M.A., Personal Development Counselor:

One thing is that we need to raise people’s awareness about this – what I would call gentle dialogue and gentle questioning…  It doesn’t work to challenge people’s beliefs or immediately tell them “I know the truth about 9/11.”  A good way is to ask open ended questions that lead to open dialogue and discussion about it.

Danielle Duperet, PhD:

One of the ways to deal with the trauma is to find the answers.  That’s why I think it is of such importance to have a comprehensive investigation.

Pride is Another Reason People Deny 9/11 Truth

Robert Griffin, Licensed Psychologist:

I believe that to become the type of country that we think we are, we have to face some of the things that are not as we think they are… Thinking that we are above such things – that it could happen in other countries, but it couldn’t happen here – that’s a lack of humility.  That’s excessive pride.  As, so not being able to see our dark side or our weaknesses is the most dangerous thing.

David Ray Griffin, Ph.D:

The observation that pride is one of the basic human flaws is absolutely correct.  This is especially true for Americans because we for a long time looked at other nations and said, “They are in such bad shape.  But, luckily we don’t have those problems.  We don’t have leaders that would do those things that were done in the Soviet Union, or done in Germany, or done in Japan… This is a type of pride that Americans have.

A feature of American history that makes particularly liable to this pride is this notion of exceptionalism – that America is the exceptional nation.  That began from the beginning as this country was formed.

People would say that there was so much evil in the European countries, so much cheating, so much lying, so much using the people for the ruler’s purposes.  But not in America! We have leaders who are free from those sins.  This has made 9/11 particularly difficult for Americans.

Robert Griffin, Licensed Psychologist:

Everyone can make mistakes.  But, our ideals and our principles get us back on track.

John Freedom, M.A., Personal Development Counselor:

9/11 is One of the Defining Issues of Our Time 

This is one of the defining issues of our time.

Questioning is Patriotic

Robert Griffin, Licensed Psychologist:

So, we need to understand that questioning is patriotic.  Questioning is what we are supposed to do.  That’s our duty.

The Real Perpetrators Must be Held Accountable

Frances Shure, M.A. (Licensed Professional Counselor):

When we come to the national level, when something like 9/11 happens, we need to be sure that we have a real investigation into who the perpetrators are.  And, then we need to make sure that those people are held legally accountable. It’s part of the healing process on an individual level and the collective level.

consciouslifenews.com

 

Changing The Planet Through Sexual Healing

We live in a world that sells through sex and then shames us for it. Women are taught at a young age not to be sexual, and men are taught that women don’t want sex as bad as they do. We are taught that if a man wants to have sex, he needs to work for it, fight for it, or even kill for it. Women are taught not to be sexual, but at the same time, we place absurd standards on ourselves about how sexy they need to look

This is what Sex Shame does to people! We need sex like we need food, water or sleep. It’s in our DNA to ensure reproduction! What will our world look like when everyone is comfortable with their sexuality? What will our world look like when everyone has confidence in the way they look, the words they speak and the beliefs they stand for?

The Neuroscience of the Orgasm

FMRI scans of a woman’s brain in orgasm show that over 80 areas of her brain light up (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/237976.php), and PET scans show that key areas shut down. What this shows us is that orgasm is the most profound state of natural trance available without the use of drugs or plant medicine. The state of orgasm is an extremely powerful creative force and it’s the highest vibration that we can reach. Humans can manifest through the vibration of orgasm, and for a woman, clearing everything in the way of a full orgasm also clears anything in the way of a woman stepping fully into her true self, and rising to live her purpose.

Orgasm is 90% in the head, and with all the misinformation society teaches us that leaves us anxious in the bedroom, it’s easy to see why there are so many women who are not easily and regularly having satisfying orgasms. The majority of the work that needs to be done to allow a woman to release this way is creating a safe container where she can let go enough to be able to trust you and trust herself to allow her orgasm to come with ease. The female brain during orgasm completely shuts down areas that deal with self-reflection, fear and anxiety, and anything else that isn’t complete ecstasy. The human brain obsesses about what we think of ourselves, what other people think about us, and what we have to do later in the day. Judgment and vigilance centers of the brain keep us alert for survival. These centers need to be relaxed in order for her to orgasm and be 100% focused on her pleasure. When these centers are shut down, it’s like hacking a computer program, and reality as we know it can be completely re-wired and re-invented.

Re-wiring the brain

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), they have something called an Anchor, which simply put, is a unique stimulus that creates a physiological response. Everyone has had the experience of being out in public and smelling the same cologne or perfume an old lover used to wear. It brings you right back into the feeling state of being with them. Whether they were a good experience or a bad one, you’re right there all over again.

Our society anchors sex to guilt and shame and this can cause a person to completely disassociate from their body. This is doubly the case when there has been sexual abuse in a person’s childhood. Now, physical touch that should feel loving and stimulating and recharging, can make an adult want to check out, shut down or run away. You can see how this would be detrimental in our interpersonal relationships! So, how do we let people in on an entirely new level? We need to collapse those anchors.

In NLP, they collapse the negative anchor by bringing up the negative emotion or feeling and then collapsing it with a positive emotion or feeling. Orgasm can also be used to collapse all the negative anchors (guilt, shame, resentment, rage, apathy etc).

How to set the intention for sexual healing:

Intention is crucial for the entirety of a sexual healing experience. During the state of Gspot orgasm, the receiver will act as a super-charged antenna to download information and broadcast her desires to the universe. If you’re the receiver, write down what you want out of life. The next step is your life purpose. Write down what’s keeping you from having this – the story, beliefs, and actual physical actions that are not being taken or ones that shouldn’t be taken. Then, write down affirmations that you would need to believe on a deep unconscious body level of being that would shift Everything. There is often a fear present that is causing people to take actions that aren’t useful instead of taking actions that are.

The most powerful affirmations that people need to embody across the board are – I love myself, I am powerful, I trust myself, I forgive myself, my soul mate is here now – state each affirmation as if it had already happened. “I am” statements, or other identity level statements, are the most powerful statements you can make. Speak to your inner child. She is your manifestor.

Avoid deserving statements such as “I am enough,” and “I deserve to be loved,” because although the brain wants to go there, it places your deservingness on a scale, and this scale is created by ego. We want to get off the scale of ego. When you question whether you deserve something, a part of you still doubts you even if you think “yes.” When your identity is no longer on that scale of deserving, you just are.

Beginning the process and creating the container of love:

In order to reach orgasm, a woman needs to be in the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and relaxation) rather than the sympathetic system (fight or flight) which creates stress and releases a chemical called Cortisol. A deep tissue massage can cause the body to snap into the sympathetic nervous system, so instead, a gentle stroke, a relaxing massage, and candle light are all helpful to get her to relax.

Spiritual and Manifestation Benefits of Sexual Healing

If a woman has been looking for her man, the universe can’t give it to her because whenever you want to find something, it’s only because you don’t have it. In other words, when you desire something in the future, you don’t have it in the NOW. The NOW is the only place we can truly manifest from. When a woman uses this practice, she can recalibrate her vibrational compass, and often she brings him in instantly. If she already has the love of her life, she goes deeper. If she is manifesting abundance, it happens just like that. The giver and receiver create a morphogenic field, acting as antennas, to help her manifest love and abundance. Her field before was “I can’t find my man and I don’t know where my man is and I want him to be here now” and we create “This perfect divine pure love is here right now” and she leaves with an entirely different feeling. We anchor body sensation to love and to her man and she magnetizes love externally because she has found it internally.

The population must clear the negative connotations and judgments that have colored their sexual experience for hundreds or thousands of years. We must make peace with sex in order to integrate the frequencies within our identity. Things have been manipulated and given a boundary of limitation so that the truth of sexuality has been kept from you. You have been told that you can procreate with it and have orgasms, but you have not been told that you can open frequencies with it. Sexual healing is re-emerging as a way to dance with the divine and it ushers much-needed hope for the collective healing of our planet.

About the Authors

Ben and Jen Rode are the Twin Flame couple who co-founded Explosive Sexual Healing. Ben has been studying sexuality and relationships for 13 years. He is a certified Sexological Bodyworker, Sex Educator, Hypnotherapist, and NLP practitioner. Jen is a certified Reiki Master, Angel Card Reader, and Clairvoyant Channel. Having experienced sexual abuse as a child, her mission is to help the world release sexual shame & trauma, and to harmonize the divine feminine and masculine energies. Ben and Jen live at their retreat center in Rancho Santa Fe, California with their daughter, where they take sessions, hold workshops, lead retreats and transform the planet’s sexuality.

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

The Brain Does NOT Create Consciousness

In a recent interview on Waking Times aired on The People’s Voice Network, Dr. Eben Alexander, Harvard Neurosurgeon presents compelling scientific research in the field of consciousness that examines the unfolding reality that the brain does NOT create consciousness. Misleading concepts that focus on reductive materialism have kept us in the dark about the true nature of the human soul and its integral part in our evolution as spiritual beings.

“The old paradigm of birth to death represents an outdated concept that is woefully inadequate in defining the unfolding reality of expanded awareness,” he stated in the interview with Waking Times. “Materialist science is at the end of its days as most scientists are changing their views. The old concepts are soon to be relegated to the same dust bin as ‘the earth is flat’ as we develop a more mature understanding and transcend old beliefs.”

Supported by worldwide research that is now delving into the concepts of string theory that involves a complete reworking of our outdated and limited views of space/time means that we are now entering a phase where science will greatly expand its boundaries. The foundation of the research begins with the clear understanding of the “Soul”, or conscious spirit, that exists outside of the body and is eternal.

“Consciousness is at the core to unfolding all of reality”, states Alexander.

The brain operates the body based on input from the personality, but the higher intelligence, or subconscious, is the mechanism that controls the body, and that is the soul that we have yet to acknowledge or even begin to understand. That is the free will component that exists long after the body stops. Near-death, paranormal, mysticism, past life memories, and akashic records are now a common thread that drives home the conclusion that there exists a soul within the human body that transcends the human experience. As we acknowledge the essence of our soul, we let go of the limitations of the illusional earth-based mentality and reach out to the greater cosmos of life. Many additional realms exist beyond the earth and in other dimensions of time/space. As spiritual beings, we can easily access these places.

Edgar Cayce, the father of holistic medicine, pioneered the concept in modern times that we are indeed “spiritual beings having a human experience”, but this is only a reemergence of what our ancestors already knew.

This time on earth will be one where we all transcend the false boundaries that convince us that we are separate entities and develop the understanding of the oneness that we all share, meaning that we don’t have to be either scientific or spiritual. Merging science and spirituality creates a new foundation for our peaceful coexistence in the greater cosmos.

Read Deborah West’s columns at The New Era Times for her personal views.

References:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/biocentrism/201112/does-the-soul-exist-evidence-says-yes

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/10/29/science-now-proves-reincarnation-a-look-at-the-souls-journey-after-death/

http://www.sott.net/article/271933-Scientists-claim-that-Quantum-Theory-proves-consciousness-moves-to-another-universe-at-death

For more about Dr. Eben Alexander: http://www.eternea.org/

For more about Sacred Acoustics: http://www.sacredacoustics.com/

About the Author

Deborah West worked in corporate public relations and media for over 20 years and is currently a freelancer, reporting on a wide variety of topics including disclosure, ancient and multidimensional civilizations, the the shift in humanity’s consciousness and brings truthful reporting to topics ranging from healthcare to energy. She writes a column called Lost Knowledge at The New Era Times and has a weekly radio show called Lost Knowledge on Tuesdays 3-5pm CST. To see her articles go to:  http://www.tnetimes.com/contributor/deborah_west/92/

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

SOURCE: Waking Times.

A Mask of God

Most of us think we are individual human beings living in a world that is outside of us, along with billions of other individuals. While from the perspective of consensus reality it certainly does appear that way, it just may be that you are alone in a world of your own making. We live in an extremely materialistic culture, and even those that consider themselves spiritual or religious are not immune to this conditioning. The materialistic worldview focuses on the outer world and the objects of the five senses. When it comes to the subject of perception or the perceiver, we bring our materialism inside and see more objects of perception (thoughts, beliefs, feelings, personality), that is if we don’t explain it all away with physiology. What modern psychology fails to do, and what most forms of spirituality fall short of, is getting to the root of the perceiver itself. Physical science looks at external objects, and psychology looks at internal objects. The common factor between the two is that they are both objects of perception, but who or what is at the root of perception?

The ancient path of self discovery, taken by the seers and sages of old, was very much concerned with this question. They realized that for every object or every phenomenon there is a witness. That is, for us to be able to know something such as a person, object or thought, something must be there to observe it. No matter how you break down the world or the mind, there is always an subtle observer which is aware of it. This implies a subject/object relationship (duality) and some kind of separation between the observer and that which is observed. The ancient seers wanted to know what human beings really were at the core. Were we just a body or a mind, or was there some essence or spirit which made us sentient beings. They found that they were able to observe the aspects of the body and mind and noticed that these things could be broken down into smaller and more subtle parts. There was an instability to these parts because they could either continue to be broken down or they were not always present, all of it was subject to change. However, the unstable elements of the body and mind seemed to appear before a silent awareness that remained stable at all times even if it was not always paid attention to.

When these seers decided to turn their well-honed powers of observation back on their source, the inner witness, they made a remarkable discovery. They found nothing. Except it was not the usual nothing. The word nothing is used simply because no one was able to find or even make up a word that captured what was found at the root of perception. Many words have cropped up to try to describe this inner nothingness such as emptiness, Brahman, God, spirit, consciousness, the absolute, etc. If the inner observer was traced all the way to its root, it would always fall away into nothing. In that nothingness however there was profound peace and joy beyond description. They additionally found that nothing seemed to exist without being witnessed, as if the act of being witnessed by this consciousness was a necessary factor in the existence of everything we know including ourselves. So they considered consciousness the source or root of all existence.

Most people don’t realize this because they don’t turn their attention around and find its source. Generally, our attention is directly outwardly at objects so the external material world is what we take to be the only reality. But that’s just a function of what we pay attention to. The ancient sages realized with their discovery that this usual way of seeing reality was mistaken and actually the cause of unending misery. They saw that consciousness was the real source of everything that we experience and consciousness is what we are when reduced down to the root.

Out of infinite consciousness the first observable phenomenon that can be discerned is ‘I’. The root thought, I. In its pure form, it is the sense of individual presence, what we feel when we direct our attention inwardly and quiet the mind. From this root thought all the other elements of the mind arise. All the thoughts, feelings, habit patterns, beliefs, images and projections that make up a human mind. These develop as the I, as an individual entity which begins to interact and have experiences. The more complex mental patterns of the mind are further projected outward to make up the seeming external world. In this way, what we experience is the projection of a mental pattern powered by the consciousness (light) that shines through it. This is very much like a hologram as was briefly mentioned in the last post. The implication is that the external world is really not external at all. Even when we experience other people we are seeing our own mental projection of them overlaid onto another individual expression of consciousness.

For me the process of self inquiry validated this in my experience because in looking closely and honestly at my mind I could see the mental patterns behind many of the experiences and situations of my life. Western Occultism deals with this quite intimately in showing students how to identify and change the mental patterns that are creating the difficulty in their lives. If you have a long term pattern/belief that you are poor and lacking in what you need consciousness amplifies this and projects it out as your experience. You will see a world of scarcity where you are continually unable to get what you need. The unfortunate part being you will think it’s the world rather than your mental pattern of poverty, so you will be trapped in it and suffer accordingly. If we learn to look inward and identify the patterns behind our troubles, the possibility of conscious change arises. Dissolving those patterns and replacing them with ones that reflect what we want alters our entire experience of life. By giving attention to the new patterns, consciousness shines through them and we experience the result. Attention is the means by which consciousness is directed.

If you want to explore a very precise way of working with these patterns, dissolving those that don’t serve you and effectively creating ones that do, I highly recommend the lessons of the BOTA. As powerful as that understanding can be, personally I find the key discovery of the ancient sages of the root of the inner observer to be the most significant and profound. No matter how much we learn to reprogram our mental patterns and create better and better versions of our world, it’s all ultimately of little value unless we know who and what we really are. Like the lucid dreamer when you see the world as a dream and wake up in that dream, you can play and create a much more enjoyable dream. However, it’s still just a dream. The reality behind the dream is the ultimate jewel. For this we must go all the way to the center of our heart and wake up from the dream altogether into our true Self. As long as we take ourselves to be a separate entity, we can never reach true fulfillment because something is always missing no matter how good it gets. That something is the truth of who we are.

How beautifully ironic the cosmic joke that what could be considered the greatest achievement or discovery that a human being can ever make is to realize that there really never was a person, just a mask of God…..

About the Author

Colin Bondi is the author of the website, AwakenInTheNow, where this article was originally featured. Please visit his excellent site.

This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.