More Nature, Less Stuff

It makes me laugh that humans think they are the most intelligent beings in the known Universe. 

Ha, ha, ha!

We aren't even the most intelligent beings on our own blue green home suspended in the blackness of space.

We can learn a lot by looking to all the other life with which we share this wonderful, wise planet.

There are lessons to be learned there that could make us more than tragically hip and dumb apes.

It should be a humbling experience, something we badly need if we are to save ourselves.

That is why I am a huge proponent of more nature, and less consumerism.

One will free us, the other enslave.

Today is a good day to be free.

In nature.

“Nature is our greatest teacher, of surrender, of allowing, of simply being. Every blade of grass, every flower, every tree remembers. This moment. This present. This is where life is.” - 

Escaping The Matrix: How We The People Can Change The World

Want to get an up to date, accurate assessment of humanity's current state of affairs so you can help change the world? Don't go to social media for answers, that's blue pill stuff. 

The place we need to go is BOOKS, because so many are red pill material.

Power brokers know we don't read books much anymore, and therefore have not been aggressively censoring them. 

Our attention span has been reduced to the size of a pea, consuming information in smaller and smaller bites, bits, and microbits. It is imposible to get a big picture look at things.

They think that if we are confronted by anything longer than a meme or tweet, we will lose concentration and wander off. 

But we can still read books, can't we? 

I am going to give it a go because you never know when they will stage real and/or digital conflagrations to eliminate inconvenient ideas.

I am leaving a link to a book that I have been looking at recently, because I am all about taking that red pill and escaping the matrix.

2021. The Year Humanity Escaped The Matrix, after 6000 long years.

Here's the link to a free online copy of Escaping The Matrix: How We The People Can Change The World by Richard Moore.

http://docs.cyberjournal.org/Documents/ETM_Book.html

"We need a culture based on mutual understanding and cooperation rather than on war and conquest, a culture based on common sense rather than dysfunctional doctrine, on respect for life rather than the pursuit of profit, and on democracy in place of elite rule. 

After six thousand years of domestication, we sheep must finally cast aside our illusions, recognize our condition, and reclaim our identity as free human beings. 

In reclaiming our identities we will also be redefining our cultures."

 

- Richard Moore

 

 

My Mom Was A Rebel, And Because Of Her, I Am Too

OBOS has been called one of the most influential books ever written. First published in the
1970s, it remained in print until 2018, and is now only available on line. My rebel
mom had it in her library back in the day, and it changed my life.

Today we celebrate International Women's Day, a day when we recognize influential women across history, and across the globe. 

Who would these women be? Mary Wollstonecraft perhaps, or Betty Friedan? Or Gloria Steinem? Yes, all of these and more. 

Today I pause to reflect on the most influential women in my life. While all the famous women have done amazing things, none of them has affected me as much as my own mother.

Every day of my life I give thanks for the achievements of Margaret Mooney, my rebel mom. You could call her an "early feminist" I guess, unless you realize that women have been fighting for equality for much longer than the 1970s. 

How about the 1770s? Yes, and no doubt, before then, too.

So mom was not the most famous, and she was not the first, but she was the sole woman to not only bring me into this world, but also teach me about the role of women (and men) in society.

My mom is one of the strongest persons I know. She birthed and raised 5 children, virtually alone. Since dad, a wonderful man, was a traditional 1950s guy, child rearing was not his thing. Bringing home the bacon was his sole domain, and he did it well. 

Not that it was easy for him, but come on, who had the more difficult job? Not only did mom raise 5 wild children, she also broke free of convention and went back to school to get a degree later in life. Then she entered the work place, as if she didn't have enough to do already.

Ultimately, she emancipated herself from her traditional role, and that takes some kind of strength. Just ask any woman, Rosa Parks, perhaps, about the struggle to be free of the bullshit of a racist, misogynist patriarchy. 

It is hard, but it is worth it. Where there is no struggle, there is no progress.

It was my mother's example that made me not only a feminist, but also helped me to emancipate myself from the same sick system that she railed against. If not for her, would I have even known that I was also in chains, that we all were, and that it was up to me, to each of us, to break those chains?

So today, I celebrate all women, famous or not. But mostly I celebrate the most important woman in my life - my mother.

Thank you, mom. I am, because of you. But not just that - I am free, because of you.

Mandela Was A Self-Actualized, Dancing Wu Wei Master

Nelson Mandela was a rare human being that left giant shoes to fill.

It would have been nice if poverty had died before Nelson Mandela did, but at least he nailed the issue before he left. The fight is up to us now, to follow his footsteps and commit to becoming fully functional human beings, and powerful agents of change.

Nelson Mandela was a rarity. Like other highly evolved humans such as Gandhi and Mother Theresa, some say Mandela achieved the pinnacle of human achievement. It has nothing to do with possessions or money.

Using humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow's term from the 1940s, Mandela was "self-actualized".


Qualities of The Self-Actualized

• Secure at all lower level needs
• Compassionate 
• Creative
• Controls impulses
• Comfortable in solitude 
• Socially harmonious
• Naturally powerful
• Beyond needing the approval of others
• Highly aware of own thoughts and the world beyond
• Find meaning and purpose in life regardless of the situation

Maslow himself theorized that only 2% of the population would ever attain self-actualization. However, engaging in the pursuit of self-actualization, even if not fully achieved, still makes us better, more effective human beings.

In the same vein, Mandela could be considered what I call a Dancing Wu Wei Master. He had the mental and physical movements of a wise, old Taoist teacher. His actions were spontaneously, effortlessly, and naturally of benefit to all he contacted.

Wu Wei is the Taoist principle of the action of non-action. It is going with the flow rather than following a premeditated course.

Qualities of The Wu Wei Masters

• Act without a sense of self
• Give without any conditions
• See without a preference
• Respond perfectly to situations which arise
• Actions are in alignment with the cycles of the natural world
• Has realized one's place in the web of life
• Thoughts, words and actions do no harm, and are spontaneously virtuous

From everything I have heard, Nelson Mandela was a model human being. He practiced forgiveness and compassion, and through that changed the world. He left giant shoes to fill, but we can boldly step into them, honour his life, and work toward our own self-actualization and induction into the group of Dancing Wu Wei Masters.

Along the way we will transform ourselves and the world around us. Nelson would be pleased.

Free Yourself From Consumer Slavery

Emancipate yourself from consumer slavery; none but ourselves can free our wallets.

Bob Marley dared us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, and reminded us that we are the ones with the key to the cell door. The bar code image above reminds us that we can be imprisoned and enslaved by the things we buy, as well as the work that we do to support the consumer lifestyle.

"Do possessions make you rich? I don't have that type of richness. My richness is life."  

By freeing ourselves from consumer slavery, which is just another manifestation of mental slavery, we  free our wallets as well. We break the chains of the consumer society so that our repressed desires of a more authentic existence can come forward.

Once free from the clutches of consumerism, we can begin to build the life we want - a creative, joyful, self-directed life. It turns into a project where your life is your art, and your art is your life, just the situation that Bob Marley created for himself during his career.

Consumerism and its slave drivers can only imprison us if we let them.

Make the commitment to not let them, to break free, and to become an impartial observer of your own life. When that happens, you can see where you are giving away your freedom and where you are serving your masters.

Then you can take your freedom back. Emancipation can be yours.

"The greatness of a person is not in how much wealth they acquire, but in their integrity and ability to affect those around them positively." 

- Bob Marley

Not Buying Valentines Day or Slave Chocolate

I'm all about love. The world would be a better place if we had more of it. Valentines day however, is a sick scam that launches a full frontal assault on amorous couples looking to score some points on this 'special day'.

If the goal was to spread love 365 days a year, that would be cool. But it is not. The goal is to get money out of your pocket, plain and simple. And the pressure to spend is great. In many places it has become a cultural expectation or obligation to spend on loved ones.

Everyone, including grade school children, are expected to invest in a little love, and do so unquestioningly.

And what is the main way to "show your love" besides cheesy will-you-be-mine cards? Giving a gift of chocolate made by child and slave labour is quite popular.


"Children are doing dirty, dangerous, and degrading work in the chocolate industry,” says Cheryl Hotchkiss, manager of World Vision’s End Child Slavery campaign. “They get hurt swinging machetes to cut down cacao pods. They get sick from pesticides and toil in extreme heat with little pay, poor nutrition, and no health care. They’re separated from their families and can even be abused by employers.”

Approximately 2 million children, some as young as 8 years old, are involved in cacao farming worldwide, the majority in West Africa.

95% of the chocolate consumed in the world is not certified and will soil your hands in more ways than one if you choose to buy it along with the thinly veiled marketing love fest that we know as V-day.

Here are some things you can do to ensure that your chocolate isn't tainted by child and slave labour, or toxic processes.

Getting Rid of Dirty Chocolate

1. Look for chocolate with labels such as the Fair Trade label and the IMO Fair for Life label.

2. Contact the big chocolate companies like Hershey’s - tell them you expect them to prove their chocolate is not tainted by child labor and slave labor.

3. Contact your elected officials. If big chocolate can’t monitor their own supply chains, we need to go back to the drawing board and demand laws that prevent slave-produced chocolate from hitting the shelves of stores.

The people who produce the raw materials for our chocolate treats deserve fair wages and safe working conditions. African children shouldn’t have to suffer unspeakable horrors just so we can enjoy a treat.

Buy fair trade/organic chocolate, then indulge in a bit to celebrate limitlessly loving every single day of the year.

Find ethical chocolate where you live on the ChocoFinder website.