Violence and the American Reaction

There is no doubt facing acts of violence is tragic and extremely painful. Lately America has seen massive amounts of violence from the mass shooting at Aurora, Sandy Hook to the bombing of Boston, the Ariel Castro case and much, much more. Violence occurs in this country on a daily basis even if it doesn’t make the national headlines. Every day in this nation, someone is crying at the loss or injury.

Our national outrage is more than mourning, but violence. If we do not retaliate with like violence, many promote a violent, humiliating death for the perpetrators without full knowledge of the crime. We assume guilt based on media speculation and plot horrible deaths to the suspects before convicted; it is a vile, disgusting trend in America that we are willing to wish ill on another before we know all the facts of a case and each other.  We have learned to take our national mourning to the scale of an angry mob of villagers with pitchforks and torches.

We wonder how in a country like America would could have such violence. We ask ourselves why we have mass shootings, killing or terror. We wonder how a person could treat another with such horrid conditions. Many blame our laws, others blame the government and some will blame guns, yet very few Americans will realize we are the problem. We are the cause of our own national violence.

Americans don’t need to look very far to find this violence. We can hear the hateful rhetoric on the news commenters tearing this country apart. We can read each other’s insults on internet comment threads. We have become a people where it is so easy to lash out in hate at another person we don’t know and cannot see. Hate has become our national discourse. The violence in Americans spews from our own mouths on a daily basis and then we wonder why people commit such heinous crimes against us. We all contribute to the violence in this country. We are all guilty.

How do we break this trend of violence and hate? It starts with every individual curbing their own ego and their own pride in an attempt to understand and have empathy for everyone – yes, for EVERYONE. It is the people who often commit crimes are the ones in most need of understanding, empathy and love and when this nation ignores them they act out in violence. If we truly want to break this cycle of violence in the country, we need not only look at the perpetrators, but ourselves because the perpetrators of these crimes are often a victim of our nation’s hateful dialog.

America Exposed

It was coming up on two weeks since America was attacked by an Islamic Jihadist Saudi Arabian young man from the Czech Republic. Haven’t you heard? It was all over the news. Later some of the media pointed out a random black man in a crowd and determined he was the suspect. It was all our prejudice, conspiratorial media circus and speculation until the names of the two suspects the media tried to pronounce. Tamerlan, that’s kind of easy, but Dzhokhar… forget it. There’s just way to many consonants and not enough vowels. Let’s just make something up and call him something that’s easier for Americans. And thanks to the Czech Republican diplomat for correcting America on the difference between the Czech Republic and Chechnya; we finally have it straight. Hey America, we may not be very smart but we’re strong! BOO-YA! We got’em; where ever the hell they’re from and however the heck you pronounce their names!

So America, how hard is it to bring down a Jihadist who wanted to die for Islam and a pot-smoking college sophomore who’s biggest concerns was partying and girls? Seemingly it needed the entire Boston Police department and the FBI. As one media personality pointed out the Tsarnaev brothers could have been stars in a Quentin Tarantino movie. While Boston and the Boston Police department are patting themselves on the back, let’s remember they shut down a major American city to hunt down a fleeing teenager. Once again, America can pound our chests with pride because with the help of the Boston Police, the FBI, helicopters, robots, rubber bullets and smoke bombs, we were able to lure an unarmed and wounded teen from a boat. BOO-YA!

The Tsarnaev bombing plot was a success all thanks to America. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was able buy fireworks legally with no background check. In fact any terrorist can walk into a gun shop and buy fifty pounds of gunpowder with no background check. Awesome! The NRA has lobbied against legislation to have gunpowder traceable, so there is no way to trace anyone who blows up anything in America. Heck America, we might as well have handed the Tsarnaev brothers the materials to make a bomb. The greatest kicker is thanks to the NRA, people on the FBI terror watch list can LEGALLY buy automatic weapons. Thanks to our Wild West gun laws it allowed for the Wild West shoot out in Watertown. It made for great television and probably someday a great movie.

With the FBI’s strong interrogation prowess, they were able to get out of semi-lucid Dzhokhar Tsarnaev that their motivation for the bombing was America’s Iraq and Afghanistan war, ironically while America was honoring George Bush with a library. Here’s the count: the Tsarnaev brothers killed 4 people and wounded nearly two hundred; George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld led America into an illegal war with Iraq looking for imaginary WMD’s. The civilian death count in Iraq alone was approximately 187,308.

Also America, please let us not forgot Abu Ghraib where soldiers were ordered to torture and humiliate Iraqi men and detained and tortured countless others at Guantanamo Bay. It’s okay. We’re America. We’re good at dishing it out, but we can’t handle when it comes back to bite us. Some people would call that Karma.

Let me ask you America, how many memorials, fund raisers and bake sales were held for the killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan caused by our illegal war. How many people are telling the heart-wrenching comeback stories for the young Muslim men humiliated and tortured by our soldiers? America, can you not see the blood on our hands and the guilt we share for continuing to honor and elect government officials who commit atrocities abroad? Where do we get off thinking we can cause harm to others and wash our hands clean, but dare not harm us?

There is no excuse for the bombing; the Tsarnaev brothers killed innocent people and wounded countless others and now it is time for good-old fashioned American justice, so let’s get the noose ready for evil, psychopathic nineteen year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Who is this evil Jihadist? Well according to some reports, “one of the nicest guys,” captain of his high school wrestling team and a volunteer for the Best Buddies program. He was such an evil person that the city of Cambridge offered him a scholarship for college. Boy, did that manipulating, sociopathic teen pull the wool over Cambridge.  Let’s hang him or better yet torture and humiliate him into American submission, because that’s the American way.

The Tsarnaev brothers did more than paralyze the city of Boston and kill innocent people, they were successful at exposing all American ills – our media circus, our prejudices, our arrogance and ignorance, our nationalistic pride, holes in the FBI, conspiracy theories, our fractured congress, legal ease to buy automatic weapons and harmful substances that create WMD, ability to learn how to manufacture bombs on the internet, our hypocrisy for human life that somehow American life is more precious than foreign lives, our illegal wars, terrorism and the torture we commit overseas. We Americans can pat ourselves on our backs that we got them, but in all honesty the Tsarnaev brothers got us. They exposed America.

Violence should not beget violence and justice should never be an eye for an eye. At some point, the violence must stop, but if we cannot control the mass shootings at home and keep our government from committing atrocities overseas, America will never find peace. At some point, we as nation must take responsibility and it starts with individual Americans.

The Power of Love

It’s hard to look at the world today with an open heart, because all one tends to absorb is hate, intolerance and ignorance. No matter how good a heart you have, all this chaos and madness seeps into the heart and soul and causes pain and anxiety. It is enough to turn humanity inward and away from the all the problems of the world instead of trying to address. It makes me wonder, is it easier to turn a blind eye and ignore all the injustice in this world?
Today on Martin Luther King Jr. day, President Obama’s second inauguration, I wondered with compassionate, hearts and souls confronted such adversity, hate and madness without turning back and running. What made them so strong in the face of all of it? How is it possible to maintain love and compassion in your heart when facing so much hate?
The answer is compassion, forgiveness and gratitude. Once we can accept all the gratitude and love in our lives without fear we can look at others with compassion. There is such supreme strength in the fearlessness of love and compassion, most men of hate and ignorance can never understand. They will never understand how someone cannot only love their enemy, but accept them and give them forgiveness and compassion. Love and compassion is the most absolute power and it is a power all of us have the ability to harness, yet few of us do.
Men like Martin Luther King Jr. were great men because they we able to harness this power and influence many others that brought down empires. But they are not just idols to put on pedestals; they are examples for us to follow for love, compassion, peace and passivity. We don’t need money or guns to solve our problems; what we need is love and compassion. It is something our country is sorely lacking today.

My Freedom, My Gun

If you equate having a gun as being free, you are not free. You are living in a world of fear and paranoia and you are definitely not free.

What is even sadder than the tragedy at Sandy Hook; is that so many Americans feel they need to arm themselves against each other and against our government – a government we have the power to elect in and out of office. Not only is that argument is sad, it’s kind of pathetic that we do not even trust the men and women we elect into public office whose duty is to protect and serve us. What is wrong with the American people? If we do not trust our government, why do we elect them to office? We have the power with our vote, why do we think we need to take up arms against a government we elect?

Sitting in your house with your gun under your couch just waiting for the remote chance someone will burst through your door is not freedom. Walking around with a concealed weapon on the off chance a random shooter may attack, is not freedom. So afraid to walk outside your door because you are afraid someone is going to take something or do something to you is not freedom.

Guns themselves are not the issue, it is the addiction many Americans have them. Guns have begun like a bad drug and can make a person feel stronger, invincible and especially a false sense of security when all statistics show that owning and carrying gun that you are at higher risk if injuring yourself and others.

This paranoid delusion that many American’s are suffering, believing they can be safer with a gun is harmful to our nation and we as entire people need group therapy. We are suffering a mental/emotional condition and we are prisoners to the demons in our own minds. Only the mind at ease and the mind at peace can be free. No matter how many guns this country has, we will never be free.

It’s the End of the World as We Know it.

Yes it is, but the key to the title is “as we know it.” For all those who fear the prophesy of 12/21/12, from the words of Mayan Leader Pacal Votan speaks to the date as a transition from an old working dying and a new world being born. 12/21/12 is actually the end of the world as we know it and the beginning of a new world.

“Based on knowledge of the larger cycles of Time as mapped by the ancient Maya, Pacal Votan knew that humanity as a species would become disconnected from the laws of the natural world and would fall ignorant of our sacred interdependence with nature. He also knew that modern humanity would be put to the test to see if we can regain our conscious connection to natural time as the universal frequency of synchronization, evolving beyond the constructs of man-made linear time.

Can humanity, as a whole, awaken to the discrepancy of our man-made timing standard that has set us apart from the rest of nature, and get back in harmony with the timing frequency of the Living Universe?”

What is this new world many asking? Several years ago on a trip to Chitzen Itza, the guide spoke openly about this change. “We are leaving the age of man,” said our tour guide, “We are leaving ages of war, money, greed and industrialism. And we will be entering the age of woman – nature. Our new world will be one where humanity reconnects with Mother Nature.”
This is no longer a prophecy; this is happening now. Alternative fuels and energies are the top priority for many people. Millions of have disovered the benefits of organic foods and natural remedies for sickness, toiletries and basic house hold supplies. Many have discovered forms of meditation that reconnect them to their human spirit and the animal kingdom. Humanity has already begun to connect to one another and once again live in harmony with nature.
It is a booked called the “Celestine Prophecy” that talked about this change. Author James Redfield wrote there will be fights over this change of power. Those who now have the power, the money and influence will go to great lengths to prevent this change. And it is true, we are seeing people like the Koch Brothers and others going to great lengths to buy our elections in America and take away our hard earned civil rights. There are battles today of those struggling to hold to the old world and those who are encouraged by the promise of a new age. These prophesies are no longer prophecies, they are current events.
As 12/21/12 approaches, we have nothing to fear and everything to embrace. But what it entails is relinquishing our attachments to all things material and superficial. We must detach from old ideas and philosophies that have kept us prisoners to those in power. We must open eyes and our minds and embrace not only ourselves, our families, but the world.

Slaves to Opinions

No matter where you go you will hear someone giving their opinion – Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Liberal. And then you have those who are neither, declaring we are all lemmings for being part of the “system”. Yes, we are slaves of this governmental, corporate matrix and because of all our greed and ignorance we have dug ourselves into an even greater trap. Can we get out of this hole?

A lot of fingers are being pointed and a lot of names have been called. Let me tell you, for those who have the power that is exactly what they want. It’s called divide and conquer no matter what side of the ideological fence you are on; they own you.

How do we break through and free ourselves from the bondage? Is it less government; is it protesting and boycotting corporations, or is it pulling our money out of the banks? The answer is all and none of those things. We simply cannot change the world overnight, and we cannot change it by bickering amongst each other.

Admitting our society is controlled by the higher echelons of life is the first key. Understanding they are trying to divide us and thirdly is to unite. Change never happened over night. It happened with a few people making positive steps forward.

A positive collective consciousness of the people is what we need. We all need to get on the same frequency of change for the betterment of all of civilization. If this is what you desire, stop the complaining, stop the arguing and get together with brother – your neighbor and create the change.

Free Energy

For the past year I have been practicing an ancient Chinese exercise called Qigong. It is a practice that cultivates our Qi (life force energy). The exercises while simple are absolutely amazing. One can place their hands facing and actually feel energy between the palms. The practice moves the Qi within and and outside your body. Its benefits include curing disease where energy is blocked, from mental stresses to reaching a high spiritual level. Qigong is the most amazing experience and it has had a great impact on my life.

Personally understanding the befits of Qigong and an understanding of the energy within and between us all, I was not surprised to learn of “Free Energy” inventions portrayed in the movie Thrive. For centuries inventors like Nikola Tesla and many others have been tapping into this energy and creating innovations that could bring free energy to everyone on the planet. We are all energy; energy exists like the air we breathe.

It would be surprising to most people that many of these inventors have been shut down and shunned. Nikola Tesla’s free energy invention was suppressed by the government over ninety years ago. Recently free energy inventor Arie M. DeGeus was not so lucky. He was found dead in his car outside Charlotte Douglas airport in 2007. And there are many others who have suffered similar fates – labs burned down, threatened and worse.

 “Electric power is everywhere present in unlimited quantities and can drive the world’s machinery without the need of coal, oil, gas, or any other of the common fuels.”

 Nikola Tesla

It doesn’t take a free energy scientist to understand the implications. Who will suffer the most from Free Energy? Those who will suffer the most are those currently with the most power and money in the world – big oil and coal companies. Not only is free energy technology invented, it is ready for use. We could start tapping into this free, clean energy now.  No one will get rich or power, but we can provide free energy for the entire world. It sounds like the greatest idea. Why aren’t we doing this when so many people are suffering?

How can we get free energy now? Energy exists; it is already around us to tap into. If individuals begin to tap into this energy it will create a charge for others and more and more will tap into it. The more people who have knowledge of this free energy source, the more people who cannot be controlled by big oil companies who now have the power. There will come a time when our connected free energy will be stronger than anything oil, coal or even nuclear energy can power.

“After the third tribulation, a new source of energy will be disocvered that taps the earth’s magnetic field”

Hopi Prophesy

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, it’s Thanksgiving time in America and families across the country will be giving thanks, mostly for their families, their health. Some people will complain the turkey is too dry, the gravy is too runny and the stuffing is too crunchy. Afterward, many will sit on their couch and fall asleep watching football. It is a good holiday.

But some families may be struggling to put food on the table, because they lost their job. Some may be struggling with disease because they can’t afford health care. There will be victims of Hurricane Sandy who don’t even homes to celebrate. And then there are those people who do not have friends of families to celebrate. They will be home alone and lonely.

The first Thanksgiving in American celebrated a big harvest. The pilgrims shared their good fortune with the natives the lived nearby. Many Americans don’t even want to spend time with their families, let alone a neighbor who may be a little different – race, religion, and alternative lifestyle. How often do American’s today invite into their homes their neighbors, especially those of difference?

American is still very much a land of abundance. We have more than we need, but sadly not more than we want. We have so much and yet how many of share their good fortune with others? Yes, there are those who work the soup kitchens and help feed the homeless, but we need to go beyond. We need to step outside our doors and start sharing with our neighbors and community.

Being thankful is more than just a big turkey and a big food spread; it is more than just extending our bounty with our family and close friends. Perhaps we should take a lesson from the Pilgrims and share with our community. Being thankful is more than what we personally receive; it is also what we have the ability to give.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Financial Freedom

Several years ago I was traveling through the Yucatan on the way to Chichen Itza with my mother. Along the road side were small shacks of Mayan families – fathers and grandfathers playing with the children while mothers and grandmothers chatted happily. My mother made the comment about how poor they were and isn’t it a shame the US is developing here. My comment was that is just what the Mayans need – a McDonalds and a Starbucks. I said to my mother, “Look at them. They are happy. Do you really think our money will make them happier?”

Americans have a very dysfunctional relationship with money. We truly believe it buys happiness, love and dreams. We hoard it and refuse to share it with those who are less fortunate. We scream out against taxation not realizing taxes are a contribution to our society. And we declare our money to be our freedom. We all hope and dream of financial freedom without realizing it is a trap to keep us more invested.  “I will be free if I wasn’t taxed by the government. I will be free if I made more money. I will be free if I can marry a millionaire.” Sadly Americans have lost completely what it means to be truly free.

I find it discouraging that many equate freedom to money. Do you need a lot of money to be free? What is it that we buy with our freedom – a big screen television set, the latest Apple ap, more clothes, a bigger house and beautiful spouse? This freedom brings on only more WANT. We use the term freedom for desire of wanting more stuff? Is want a freedom? How can we be free, if we constantly want more? How can we be free if what we have is never enough?

Freedom is in the mind and it is in the heart. Freedom is relinquishing all our attachments and one of the biggest attachments mankind has is money. We will never be free as long as we are attached to money and all the material items it buys. This money and “stuff” has no value. Currency and everything it places value on will only deteriorate with time and so will man’s freedom if we don’t lesson our grasp to money.

Complete freedom means to let go of everything thing – love, money, ideas, nationalism and religion. Letting go and accepting what is and what will be is freedom. Until mankind realizes we are responsible for our own freedom (and lack of freedom) because of our attachments, we will never be truly free.

Attachment to Ideas

For centuries mankind thought we were the center of the universe and that the sun rotated around the earth. Many were absolutely convinced that the world was flat until Christopher Columbus set sail for the Americas. And up until Albert Einstein, everyone believed Sir Issaac Newton’s theory of gravity. Gravity is not pulling us toward the earth; the universe is pressing us down to the earth. Everything mankind at one time believed as fact has at some time in history been disproven. We all know now the Earth is not flat. We know we are not the center of the universe (although we would like to think we are); we are just a very tiny speck. We are all so vastly small in the grand scheme of things, but connected we become part of something very big.

When we think about history and all the debunked theories and believes, how is it possible to hold such a strong attachment to any idea or ideology? Everything we believe and hold dear as the ability to be disproven again and again. Yet today, with the vastness of the internet there is always someone who wants to project their idea and ideology as fact misleading people. Many grow not just attached to these ideas, but they wrap up their entire identity and life what can easily be disprove and while others define themselves with semantics. We can then be easily shattered and disappointed when things aren’t seen and believed the same as others.

Our clinging to our beliefs and ideas keeps humanity from progressing. When we relinquish what we have learned and what we believe to be true can we discover something new – a new way of thinking, being and living. It has always been the challenging of beliefs and laws that changed the course of mankind’s history.

Many believe today the world is transgressing into a new era of greater connectedness and consciousness. What does that mean? It means that all the old ideas of the past will be challenged as people begin to expand their minds. It will be a fearful time for those who are attached to their ideas and ideals. It will be more than challenging for those who have difficulty with change. It is why it is important not to cling so tightly to what we believe, but own open our minds to what mankind can achieve.