The Sagittarius Speaks

Vol 17 - The Velja Approach To Schooling - Ver. 2.0

2009-01-26T00:50:00.000-08:00

Note : I have prepared a Petition to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia following the guideline sent to me by the British Columbia Office of the Clerk.

The petition can be found here.

If you are interested, you can print a copy of the Petition, sign it, perhaps even get several signatures, and mail the Petition to me (send me an Email and I will happily provide my Address). My apologies for the bother of having to mail me your signed petition. Petitions require original signatures, in pen, to be considered by the Assembly (otherwise, I would have an online petition). The signed Petitions are then presented by an MLA to the Legislative Assembly.

Once tabled by the Legislative Assembly, Petitions become public property. This does ,in fact, mean that anyone would be able to look at the Petition and the signatures & addresses it contained. Please do not sign the Petition if you feel that this fact makes you uncomfortable. I feel it is pertinent to indicate, however, that Petitioning the Government is an old practice and that if it had been subject to a great deal of privacy complaints, it would have been discontinued. Furthermore, if you feel passionately about changing the school system, I think signing this Petition is an excellent step on the road to doing so, and worth a little, barely tangible discomfort.

I have revised the presentation of my idea for a new approach to schooling introduced in my 3^rd pamphlet. This new outline should make it easier to get a good idea of what The Velja Approach to Schooling proposes.

What Does “Velja” Mean?

“Velja” is Icelandic for “Choose”. So, in other words, this new approach to schooling could be called : The “Choose” Approach to Schooling. I think “Velja” sounds cooler though. Also, Icelandic has Viking influence, and Vikings evoke images of strong, adventurous, confident individuals, exactly the kinds of student school should be producing.

What Is The Velja Approach To Schooling?

Simply stated :Student-Directed Learning. Students decide what they want to study. Teachers are sought out by students for guidance, but studies are Student-Generated and Motivated.

How Would It Work?

When students finish Elementary School and enter Grade 7, a specific pre-established curriculum is abandoned and a student's education is placed firmly and confidently in their hands.

Students have access to all the school's facilities and can use them at their own discretion.

Students have unrestricted use of their time and can dedicate it to engaging in whatever activities they wish.

Students can seek out the guidance of Teachers when they have questions in a particular subject.

Oh, and there is no School Bell tyrannically dictating anyone's day.

For The Adults

The Velja Approach requires and needs adults to have complete faith in their pre-adolescent.

Think back to when you were a preteen. How much could you have accomplished if the adults around had truly believed in you and given you the freedom to pursue those things that captivated and inspired you?

Were you lazy? Did you need your hand held? Did you like being forced to attend classes in areas you weren't interested in? Were you old enough to tell adults what you found interesting and what you did not? I think you could have guided your education just fine. I think your kids can too.

Why not give them that chance?

A Vitally Important Question :

Does School Succeed In Teaching?

I suppose the definition of “learning” varies from person to person, but I propose a very simple test to determine if school genuinely imparts knowledge to students.

Give an adult one of their old school tests and see if they can pass.

Anything beyond reading/writing and basic arithmetic will do, so anything beyond around Grade 5 or 6.

The result of the little test will be, sadly, with almost certainty, the poor adult could not pass.

Is that why that show is called Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader? I don't think the title of the show was meant to be complimentary to adults or the school system which supposedly prepared them for life.

Adults who do succeed in passing an old test of theirs, will do so if it is in a subject which they were interested in. One which they did extra reading in, just because they loved it. One which they did extra assignments for, just because it was fun. One which they pursued in University, because they wanted to make it their life's work. Where's the magic of learning come from? Being interested. Being captivated. Being enchanted.

What Are Teachers Doing?

While students are spending their day directing their own learning, what are teachers doing? The same thing. Just because humans become adults does not mean that the thirst for knowledge slackens. In The Velja Approach teachers are spending their time not teaching further advancing their own knowledge. Teachers are in the library. Teachers are in the various school laboratories (chemistry, biology, cooking, computer). Teachers are in the Gym or running laps on the track. In The Velja Approach school is a Place of Learning, not just for the students, but for their teachers too.

I mean, hey :

“Why shouldn't students and teachers have lunch together in the cafeteria?”

They would if they spent time shooting hoops together, sharing Brownie recipes, or having a music/jam session.

3 Short-Stories : Student-Life In The Velja Approach

Justin loves Basketball. During the beginning of the year, he spends most of his time in the Gym practicing. He's on the school team and practicing for nearly 6 hours a day has made him an excellent young player. By November though the routine is becoming somewhat boring. Justin continues to attend practices dutifully, but he finds 6 additional hours everyday too much.

Justin's girlfriend Ashley encourages him to come join her in the Chemistry Lab and try out some experiments together. Ashley prepares a simple Volcano experiment with Vinegar & Baking Soda to show Justin what happens when an Acid & a Base mix. Ashley teases Justin that's what his stomach looks like when he eats the hamburgers he loves because the digestion of Carbohydrates requires the stomach's digestive juices be Basic, and Proteins require an Acid solution. Ashley is glad Justin has gotten Basketball out of his system somewhat so she can explain digestion to him and get rid of the Rolaids she always has to carry in her purse.

Ethan is forever in the school's Computer Lab. When he's not playing World of Warcraft, he's rapidly teaching himself C++ and Python because despite the fact he's 13, he's already decided he's going to program games for a living. His buddy Nick is in the school's Drama Program. They belong to the same guild in Warcraft and go adventuring together often. Nick doesn't find raiding quite as much fun as Ethan does though. In November, Nick joins Ethan only a handful of times for a raid; Ethan wouldn't admit it, but he misses Nick's company. Nick, being an empathetic 13 year old, senses this and encourages Ethan to come down to the school's Theater and lend a hand with the program's production of Romeo and Juliet. Ethan finds Warcraft less fun without Nick around, so he relents and tries it out. Ethan finds the program fascinating. Not only does he get a lot of exercise (which he finds he actually does enjoy), but he gets to watch an epic story unfold in real life! He also secretly has a crush on Janika, who happens to be playing Juliet (but so does the entire male portion of the 8^th Grade). Still he gets to watch her up close everyday. = )

Ethan is still going to be a programmer when he grows up, but maybe he'll get into design too...and start working out...

Melissa loves Italian. It's not her first love though of course. She already has an excellent grasp of French, Spanish, and even some Latin, having studied them with an insatiable appetite nearly all day, everyday, for the past 4 years, but Italian is her heart's latest captor. She and her friends ,Noemie and Jade, are actively raising money for the Language Program's trip to Italy over March Break. All 3 girls are 16 and have already succeeded in raising a lot of money for the trip with after-school jobs and tutoring Spanish and French speaking exchange students with English difficulties. Their final financial push will take the form of a Soccer Tournament. The girls have already formed many friendships in the Spanish and French speaking communities (both rabid Soccer afficionadoes). Both communities will be fielding numerous teams for the Tournament. Both the girls and boys school Soccer team will be participating and even some teams from other schools. The school's own Awesome Rock Band has offered to play a free concert for the after-party, with the Carpentry Program contributing a beautiful, hand-made Kitchen-Furniture set as a prize. The school's Fashion Program is donating a totally unique, new Wardrobe (all student designed) as a prize. The school's Automotive Shop is donating a package of free Tune-Ups and Oil Changes as a prize, and the school's Animal Lover's Club is donating vouchers for free Dog-Walkings (which they love to do anyways). The girls are sure they'll make plenty of money for the trip and have a blast doing it too!

This is the power of giving bright, infinitely energetic students the complete freedom and adult-faith to do what their young and curious hearts and minds draw them to.

This is what real school should be, and must be, to raise happy kids.

The Meditation Room

The Velja Approach does propose adding one additional facility to all Secondary Schools : a Meditation Room. In this soundproofed room, students would be able to sit down in a comfortable chair or on a large cushion and allow their mind to rest peacefully or focus with greater vigor.

There might be Environmental Music playing in the background, and the décor would be serene and contemplative.

When one's surroundings are quiet, and the body is at peace, one can hear one's inner truth speak.

Good for studying. ; )

Vol. 16 - Part B - My Beauty Advice

2009-01-18T20:20:00.001-08:00

Avoiding “Accordion Brow”

Mel Gibson used to be such a good looking fellow. Now the poor guy's forehead looks like the pleats of an Accordion. Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp also have trenches being dug into their cranial fronts. Sigh...I have a nice one running down the middle of my forehead with the signs of more on the way. I so very sincerely wish someone had told me the following when I was younger.

Don't Wrinkle Your Forehead. Just envision poor Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and most older guys and you should have more than enough motivation not to wrinkle your forehead.

Wear A Hat With A Brim. Keep the sun OFF your forehead. The sun will turn your skin into a cracked and parched desert. Again, picture most older guys.
Moisturize Your Forehead! God. I sooooooo wish I had realized this back when I started my moisturizing routine at 23. I thought my forehead skin didn't need moisturizing, because it was “tough”. I was also worried about acne. Still have acne, and fine wrinkles now too. Sigh. I do moisturize my forehead now though.

Currently, I'm using Yes To Carrots : Deliciously Rich Body Butter. [Edit : I am now using Yes To Carrots : C Through The Night, Night Moisturizing Cream] My forehead is nice and soft, and the lines are softened somewhat.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), or

So Long Shafts (of hair, that is)

I'll be blunt as a broadsided bat. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is more than likely total crap for your hair. It's a detergent (cleaner) and the ingredient responsible for making all that foam. It's a main ingredient in Garage Floor Degreasers (yikes), and, unfortunately, it denatures protein too. Hair is made of dead protein (I know...oh oh). SLS is probably destroying your hair.

I feel bad for bald guys. Or those guys with that big bald spot on the top of their head. It doesn't look too great.
, _ , I used to have super thick hair. I was quite proud of it. But, it's been getting thinner and more lanky. It was especially thin 2 years ago when I was shampooing everyday.

At the time I was using Down Under Naturals. It's 2^nd ingredient is SLS's cousin : Sodium Laureth Sulfate.

Once I realized my hair was really starting to get thin and I could be on my way to balding I raced to the internet for info.

I suspected the cause was my shampoo and another of those evil chemicals company's indiscriminately use to cut costs, boost profits and the rest of that inhuman Capitalist puke.

Once again I was right. Sigh. The whole Caveat Emptor (Let the Buyer Beware) thing is getting exhausting isn't it?

Read the back of almost any Shampoo Bottle. SLS will almost guaranteed be the second ingredient.

Or if not SLS than it's cousin Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate or Ammonium Laureth Suflate.

Nowadays I use Jason's Aloe Vera 84% Shampoo and Aloe Vera 84% Conditioner. [Edit : I am currently using Mill Creek's Biotin Shampoo and Mill Creek's Biotin Conditioner. It's 2nd Ingredient is Biotin a B-Complex Vitamin which is essential for healthy hair. Products list ingredients hierarchically by quantity, so Biotin being the products 2nd Ingredient means it is very plentiful.]

On the Shampoo bottle it clearly states No Lauryl/Laureth Sulfates. [Edit : As does Mill Creek's Shampoo and Conditioner.]

If SLS wasn't bad news, why would there be products with alternatives?

My hair is far from the thick healthy looking crop it used to be, but, I'd say it looks pretty good for a 29 year old guy in today's society. That said, I wish no guys had to endure baldness, and I'd say SLS is one of the reasons.

Here's my hair care advice :

Wash your hair every 2^nd Day. Your scalp produces oil. Oil is ESSENTIAL, because it keeps your hair lubricated and moist. Hair is like grass. When it is full of moisture and healthy it bends and springs back easily. When its dry, it's brittle and breaks easily. Washing everyday will dry your hair out.
Leave your Conditioner in your hair after your shower. I leave my Conditioner in my hair for 2 hours after showering, and my hair is SUPER soft and awesome after I rinse and let it dry.

Shaving : The Less, The Better

The day I realized that I couldn't shave my face to its baby-like smoothness anymore was painful. “I'm becoming an old man damnit!”

I could have delayed the depressing day if I had shaved less frequently.

When I was working as a Front-Desk receptionist at 20 years of age, I shaved nearly every day. That likely did my poor skin in. sigh. People shouldn't have to sacrifice their appearance for their job.

Here's my shaving advice for guys :

DO NOT shave after showering. Soap emulsifies and removes the naturally produced oils of your skin, those oils are skin's natural lubricants. Running a sharp blade over skin when its been stripped of its grease is, well...ouch. Shave after you wake up in the morning when your skin is all nice and greasy (and less likely to become ground beef under the blade).
Aqua Velva and other “Alcohol-based” Aftershaves are crap for your skin. Alcohol is an excellent antiseptic because it sucks the moisture out of germ cells (unfortunately it does exactly that to your healthy skin cells too. Not good.)
I use Jamieson 2000 IU Vitamin E Cream as an Aftershave (contains Parabens though, so looking for an alternative). It doesn't hurt and it softens great. [Edit : I am now using Yes To Carrots : C You In The Morning, Day Cream. Works great. NO Parabens.] Where'd the stupid idea come from that men are supposed to suffer stoically come from anyway? Why do we have to sacrifice our skin for a primitive , backwards belief? Answer : we don't.
Consider shaving infrequently. I shave every 2-3 weeks, or when I'm concerned about looking good for the ladies. Facial hair doesn't interfere with me performing any of my responsibilities, so why should I sacrifice my appearance for social mores. I don't want to become one of those poor guys who shaves in the morning and than has a thick 5 o clock shadow by the evening.

Here's my shaving advice for girls (I used to shave my legs when going to the gym regularly).

Use Shampoo as a Shaving Lotion. It works and works beautifully. The gelatinous consistency of the shampoo creates a slick layer of protection and gliding surface for the skin. I never cut myself once.
I used my Mach 3 men's razor and it worked just fine.
Try using long strokes, mostly because it makes the whole boring process go by faster, but it also presents less risk of a cut (the Shampoo technique should insure that never becomes a problem though : )
Use blessed Aloe Vera as an Aftershave. No burning. Much softening and smoothing.
I love smooth legs as much as the next guy, but the same rule applies to guy shaving. The more you shave, the faster and coarser your hair will grow back. Shave when you want to impress guys, otherwise, no need to accelerate the “brushing” (turning skin into something like wild brush on the plain) process.

All these techniques apply to shaving the armpits too (which I did while going to the gym regularly).

Deodorant

Anti-Perspirants block the pores of your skin with a chemical reaction causing a gel to plug and block your sweat glands. Wait a second, don't I need to sweat to cool my body down and regulate my body temperature? Yup. Not sweating is Not good. So, AP's are no good.

When it comes to buying a Deodorant consider choosing one which is Paraben (them again), Aluminum (causes chemical reaction which blocks pores), Alcohol (again, good for killing germ cells, and, sadly, healthy cells too) and Propylene Glycol (a petroleum derivative and skin irritant).

I use Lafes Natural and Organic Deodorant found in Save-On Foods. It has a refreshing, fresh scent.

Since I work hard and sweat hard I also use Herni Bernard's Natural Crystal Deodorant Spray. The mineral salts suck the moisture out of odour causing bacteria (killing them, same as a poor slug) so : no b.o.

The combo keeps me odour free, smelling nice and my pits rash free.

Acne

First, I believe the main cause of Acne is : diet. What you put in your body will show up on your skin. Eat lots of cleansing fruits and veggies. Fatty and Salty stuff will manifest itself in angry, red breakouts.

I personally hate Acne medication. Using Clearasil's Astringent and Clearasil's 5% Salicylic Acid cream resulted in me permanently “burning” acne marks into my temples.

I recommend washing with good ol' soap and water. I like Ivory. Soap removes the oil from the skin which blocks pores and cause acne. I recommend soaping up only 'once' a day though. Dry skin is wrinkle prone skin. [Edit : I am going to be switching to a 100% Glycerin soap in the near future. From what I have read it is the mildest soap available.]

Soap and Water, and, most importantly, diet should keep you relatively acne free. Oh, and don't pick or rip off pimples. The poor skin will scar without fail.

“You've Got To Develop A Thick Skin [In Life], Then Moisturize And Wear Gloves.”

Will & Grace. Funny n' Educational.

[Edit : All Beauty Products I list can be found in Shoppers Drug-Mart or Save-On Foods or both : ) ]

Vol. 16 - Part A - My Beauty Advice

2009-01-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Writing this pamphlet is cathartic for me. I believe that beauty care should be as widely taught as reading. I could have avoided all the painful physical degeneration I am currently experiencing. Well, with this pamphlet I want to aid people my age and older in mitigating their own appearance-despair, and, especially dear to my heart, help guide young people into never having to experience the horror of premature aging themselves.

The Sun

Source of All Life, and,

Source of All Wrinkles

The following is far and away the MOST important beauty advice I can give to anyone.

The sun is responsible for 90% of wrinkles. In other words, practically ALL wrinkles are caused by the sun.
80% of the damage is likely already done by 20 years of age. I love the sun for making life possible, a bit upset it gave me wrinkles.

I'll review what I wrote about at length in my first pamphlet.

The sun produces 3 types of UV rays, 2 of which make it through the atmosphere and affect our skin.

UVA : Ultra Violet Aging radiation. Penetrates through the epidermis and damages collagen (gives skin its plumpness), elastin (skin elasticity) and skin cell DNA.

UVB : Ultra Violet Burning radiation. Produces the “sun burn” effect. Damages the epidermis of the skin and is responsible for skin cancer.

A tan is not a good thing. It's your body's way of protecting itself from UV rays through the production of the pigment melanin. Basically, your poor body is raising its arms up to ward off blows from the sun's rays, but eventually it becomes exhausted and the UV rays start wailing on your poor skin and leave it, well...a mess.

Don't tan. You look good how you are. I think White girls are hot ; p.

SPF on a Sunscreen bottle is 'only' an indication of the amount of 'UVB' protection offered, not 'UVA'.

Most Sunscreens only protect against UVB effectively. There are currently only 5 ingredients which offer protection against UVA (the radiation which makes your skin look old). Parsol 1789 (aka Avobenzone), Mexoryl SX, Mexoryl XL, Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide (the white pigment found on Lifeguard's noses).

Parsol 1789 breaks down easily under the sun's rays,so the sunscreen MUST also have Octocrylene (stabilizer) in a ratio of 2:1 (2 parts Parsol to 1 part Octo).

I use Wal-Mart's Equate SPF 45 sunscreen on my body and neck, and L'Oreal's Ombrelle SPF 45 sunscreen on my face and forehead.

Edit : [I have recently been introduced to Cliniderm's SPF 45 Lotion which uses a combination of Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide at a very high concentration to deliver UVA/UVB protection with exclusively physical blockers (the other UVA ingredients I mentioned are chemical blockers). It's expensive, but apparently it does not break down at all under sun exposure, needing to be reapplied only after being physically wiped off. I will be investigating more.]

Wear Wrap-Around Sunglasses which clearly indicate 100% UVB/UVA protection.

Wear a Hat with a pronounced brim (I am very fond of The Legionnaire style hat from Australia with its neck cape to prevent burns to that area)

Consider wearing sun protection even on cloudy days (clouds are just water vapor and no impediment to UV rays)

Don't forget protective Lip Balm. I like Polysporin's brand.

Aloe Vera is fantastic if you get burned. I use Fruit of the Earth 100% Aloe Vera found in Wal-Mart.

Remember, if you see wrinkles on anyone (including yourself) 9 times out of 10 it's because of sun exposure (the 1 time it's not is because of natural creases formed by the movement of muscles below skin).

For The Young People :

Watch For The Signs

I remember when I was young, my Mom would encourage me to put Vaseline brand cream on my hands, so they wouldn't get dry. I thought doing so was a “girl's thing” and I already didn't feel particularly “tough” nor “manly” so I didn't want to add to my deficiency. I also figured “moisturizing” was an “old-person” thing. Something old ladies did in a desperate attempt to regain their lost youth. I felt kind of bad for them, but I was more preoccupied with trying to find some meaning in my young life. Too bad I didn't know I could do both.

Dear Young Person Reading This Pamphlet : I know you likely think as I thought when I was younger, so I won't prompt you to start moisturizing right now. I would just like to ask you to Watch for the Signs. When you see that first wrinkle form on your forehead, or under your eyes, or on your neck, or on the knuckles of your hands, don't wait as I did for the wrinkles to deepen. Start moisturizing. After all :

“There is no shame in getting old, only in getting ugly, because that really is a shame, since it is so easily preventable.”

My Skin Care Routine

Here's my Skin Care Routine which I follow every, single night, and has helped me to manage the damage cumulative sun exposure and not having started moisturizing earlier has already caused.

I apply Jamieson Eye Cream under my eyes. It has been awesome. The lines under my eyes have been seriously softened by this great stuff. I'm going to give Yes To Carrots Eye Contour cream a try though. I just like their products vibe, like they care and they're cool. Oh btw, DO NOT RUB YOUR EYES! Under-eye skin is very thin and creases fast.
I apply Life Brand 100% Vitamin E Oil to my horse lines (smile lines) and my goatee line (jaw line).
I used to apply Life Brand Vitamin A Night Cream to my forehead and face. But I've discovered Parabens are yet another potential evil, so I'm using Yes To Carrots : Deliciously Rich Body Butter instead and I've noticed no deficiency.
I apply Life Brand 30,000 I.U Vitamin E Cream to my neck. I also use the Carrots Body Butter there too sometimes and everything still looks good (except for the ugly wrinkles I got while baking under the sun tree planting a few years ago. Sigh. Wear Sunscreen!)
I apply the Life Brand Vitamin E Cream to my hands, but, now I'm also using Yes To Carrots : Hand and Elbow Moisturizing Cream. I put on my “Moisturizing Gloves” after and go to sleep. -_- zzzzzzzz

I wake up in the morning with my skin wonderfully soft, but, the old wrinkles still present. Sigh. Laser Resurfacing I'm coming!

Picking Beauty Products :

The General Rules

If The Company Does Not Test Their Products On Animals, They Probably Care About People Too. Unfortunately Down Under Naturals Shampoo follows the rule, but they still use Sodium Laureth Sulfate. Sigh.
The fewer chemical names you don't have the slightest clue as to what they do or are, the better.

I have been using Jamieson brand for years now and it has been wonderful. I have used Shoppers Drug Mart's : Life Brand generic knockoff more often admittedly, because of the price difference (and no noticeable difference in quality).

This January 09 I found a gift box of Yes To Carrots brand products on sale for $15. The cream alone was normally worth $12, so I bought it. I'm changed. I like the company's attitude. They say stuff like, “we love each and every one of our products” and “Each product has been prepared with your happiness as our number 1 goal.” and “Try Yes To Carrots and live happily ever after!” These guys are spunky and alive. I like that. Also their products are all Paraben-free. Parabens are used as preservatives because they are, wait for it, cheap. They aren't “scientifically-proven” to be bad yet...but, they just might be carcinogenic. Sigh. Why can't I buy stuff and not have to worry about being slowly poisoned to death? I guess because Humanity doesn't love itself yet...until we do, I do my utmost to avoid Parabens if at all possible.

Laser Resurfacing :

Smoothing The Landscape Of The Skin

When I was trying to understand what Laser Resurfacing was I sought a real-life example that would help me visualize the process. The one I currently find satisfactory is that of landscaping. The skin is like earth (the dark, rich soft kind). Wrinkles are like furrows and trenches in the earth.

Laser Resurfacing is like going over those furrows and trenches with a hoe. The hoe removes the top layer of dirt completely. The furrows and trenches are no longer so deep because the surrounding dirt has been lowered. The more laser treatments you have, the more times you pass the hoe over your skin, the shallower and shallower wrinkles become until they aren't wrinkles anymore, they are once-depressed skin which is now at the same height as the surrounding skin.

Just applying creams to my skin has only reduced my wrinkle's appearance. To remove my wrinkles, I believe I need to change the infrastructure of my skin.

When I can afford it, I'm going to give the Micro Laser Peel Treatment at Dr. Joanna Day's clinic on Broadway a try. The only reason I have wrinkles, is because I wasn't taught how to take care of my skin at a young age. I want my lost time and beauty back.

Vol 15 - My Ideal World

2008-12-12T04:52:00.000-08:00

Before The Alarm Clock Goes Off

I want to live in a world where every day is so exciting, so chock full of new experiences to look forward to, that people leap out of bed in the morning far before their alarm clock goes off.

How I Think “Work” Should Be

"When you enjoy what you do, what is the difference between work and play."

No Rich. No Poor

I want to live in a world where there is no : rich and poor, have and have not's,
privileged and unfortunates.

It Takes A Village To Raise A Child

I want to live in a world where adults understand and feel the need to raise all children, not just their own, that they are responsible for making all the children of the world strong and not just their own.

The Internet is a perfect example of children seeking out the answers they need from the global community, when their parents are not capable of providing the answers they need to know.

The Internet makes it possible for adults the world over, to be parents for children the world over.

The Working World

I want to live in a world where when a person arrives at work their boss greets them warmly and happily.

A person can feel how much they are appreciated, how much they are valued.

The difference between people isn't a matter of hierarchy, but of “more experience” and “less experience”,

with the goal of the “more experienced” to pass on their knowledge to the “less experienced”.

A world where a person's work is entirely dedicated to them growing.

The Welcomed Phenomenon

When people feel welcomed to knowledge,

When people feel invited to participate in understanding,

When people feel that they are wanted and needed in learning,

There is absolutely nothing they cannot comprehend or do.

Others Want You To Learn

When people do not feel that others want them to learn something,

when they don't feel that other people consider them worthy to understand something, they create their own internal barriers to learning, lest they be further ostracized and excluded.

I want to live in a world where everybody knows others want them to grow as much as they themselves do.

Honesty

I want to be honest with people.

I want to say what I truly think and what I truly feel.

I want to stop coloring my words.

I want to stop decorating the truth.

If I cannot be wholly honest with others, I don't care to spend much time with them.

In the kind of world I want to live in, people would understand, profoundly that : a relationship built on a foundation of lies is doomed to collapse.

Believing In Each Other Unconditionally

In today's society, believing in each other unconditionally is just not something we do.

How much further along in our evolution we would be, if we just believed in each other,

if we just knew that we were surrounded by fellow human beings who wanted nothing more than to see us succeed and shine, and them to enjoy the same.

Humanity : A Species Which Leaves No One Behind

In the kind of world I want to live in,

there would be no question that every single person had unlimited potential.

Society would be 100% dedicated to insuring that every single person was realizing their unlimited potential.

Society would not accept anyone not feeling fulfilled and fully actualized.

Somebody saying, "I don't feel fulfilled," would be a rallying cry for the society to move forward and insure that the person was returned to a path where they were feeling fulfilled and valuable.

Society would settle for nothing less.

If We Believe Anyone Can Do Anything...

Then the fact that the vast majority of people are living lives far, far below their unlimited potential is wrong.

In our society, a person is not discriminated against when applying for a job because of race or gender.

Every citizen is allowed to vote.

Anyone has right to a fair trial.

I want to live in a world where it is "normal", "accepted", "a right" that all of us whom comprise our society are guaranteed that the fulfillment of our potential is society's highest priority.

The problem lies in that, in truth, in our society, we do not believe any person can do anything.

We believe that some people simply cannot do some things.

We believe some people are good at some things and some people are good at other things.

Thus it is rendered acceptable that so many people live lives of quiet desperation, since they don't have “it”.

Thus it is rendered acceptable that the best opportunities are provided to only the few.

It is certainly possible for a person to pull themselves up from difficult circumstances to succeed, but,

if we live in a society that believes anyone can do anything, would it not make more sense that the whole population be given the very best opportunities possible to succeed.

We are a society that pays "lip service" to the idea that anyone can do anything, but still does not believe it in its heart.

I want to live in a world where everyone knows, in the profundity of their heart, that anyone can do anything, and, that as a society we settle for nothing less that providing every opportunity imaginable for everyone to make fulfilling their potential a reality.

The Split / The Suppression

I want to live in a world where I never have to "split" myself.

Split into the "socially acceptable me” and the "true me".

Purposefully Holding Back

I hold myself back from my potential because to engage in it, only to know that I live in a world that does not want me to, a world which does not support one another with all their heart, nor want others to surpass them, which looks upon the successful with envy and anger, would only end up hurting me, and I don't deserve that.

The reason people don't want to help each other is because doing so threatens their survival, threatens their sense of identity, threatens their sense of value.

The act of enhancing, of teaching another person is perceived as being an act which diminishes a person's own worth, which "steals their own thunder", threatening the validity of their existence.

no...I do not want to be unlocked and limitless in such a world.

So...I hold myself back from my potential...and I am frustrated...and angry...

In my ideal world, I would never have to chain myself so.

Human Beings, Are Meant To Stand

When someone feels they cannot support themselves on their own 2 feet, they will envy and rue others who can.

Not being able to stand tall and strong, is antithetical to human beings, meant to be proud and erect.

When a human being finds themselves feeling so, they will decline into all manner of perverse behavior. Why? They do not feel human, so they act inhumanely. When a human being feels strong and can stand tall, they are the embodiment of the noble creature they are supposed to be.

The Need to Feel Welcome

When people do not feel welcome,

they block themselves from making connections with their fellow human beings and the world.

In the kind of world I want to live in it would be common knowledge,

it would be universally understood,

that if a person feels welcomed,

feels free to express themselves without fear of rebuke or retribution,

is encouraged and supported unconditionally and lovingly,

if a person is believed in, is told they are special, they are invaluable,

if a person knows, without a doubt, that their species is wholly dedicated to them feeling fulfilled and actualized, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, a person cannot do.

My Ideal World

I want to live in a world which is dedicated to insuring that everyone is realizing their potential.

I want to live in a world where everyone is dedicated to making each other strong.

Vol 14 - My Ideal Life

2008-12-12T04:50:00.000-08:00

The Journey

A backpack on my back. A road at my feet. And adventure ahead of me.

That's my ideal life.

Gain Skills and Abilities

I am going to travel to gain skills and abilities, taught to me by people who genuinely wish to share their knowledge with me.

This is one of the central draws of being an adventurer, of living the life I am going to live. Just as in my favorite video games, stories and shows.

You Teach Me And I'll Teach You

When I met someone I connected with, I would befriend them, spend time with them, learn from them and teach them.

Then, when I had learned what I wanted, I would pick up my bag and head off again, knowing that I had formed a bond and made a true friend.

Hunger and Thirst

This will be a Journey to follow my feelings and my heart.

I have a great deal of guilt and shame inside of me from the usual host of reasons, but, basically deriving from the fact that our society is a Capitalist one, and one in which human feelings are circumspect. Everyone has been severely damaged by the current societal system we have and by the irascible denial of our feelings. In all fairness though, this is as good as it's ever been, I just want it to be better.

The darkness and pain inside of me are a part of who I am. During my Journey, there will be times when I am hungry and cold. There will be times when I will need to depend on the kindness of my fellow human beings, when my survival will depend on their kindness.

My Journey will take me to wherever I feel the need to go. I'm sure that will include plenty of dangerous places. I feel the inexorable need to challenge myself and to grow.

This is also how true bonds are formed with others. When you need others to insure your continued survival.

This is already the case of course. We human beings are interdependent on each other for our mutual survival. It just doesn't feel that way in modern society. We just don't feel connected.

A Wanderer's Life -

Periods of Activity Followed By Periods of Rest

I want to wander to become strong.

When I tire of wandering, I will rest.

I look forward to the quality of rest I will enjoy : the kind of resting when one feels fulfilled and self-actualized.

A Restless Child

I was a restless child. I was the kid who had a very hard time sitting still in class, who just wanted to run around all day, who couldn't stand being forced to sit down and color in-between the lines.

I was given Ritalin to calm me and failing that, was sent to a "special school".

I did calm down, because I came to realize that if I didn't, I would be constantly punished.

It's quite sad...but I do understand.

There was an established system, an established point of view, and I didn't fit into it, so I had to be "made" to fit into it.

As a child, I was always drawn to stories of adventure and heroism.

I found it much more satisfying to be watching Saturday Morning cartoons of the struggle between the forces of good and evil than going outside.

My favorite stories were always ones of noble people overcoming adversity to save others.

When video games became a central part of my life, I forewent sports games and puzzle games, and was always attracted to games of action and adventure.

Games where you assumed the role of the hero, charged with saving the world.

I gobbled up stories of self-discovery, where the hero does not know just how powerful they are, but discovers it through challenges and trials.

The friendships I witnessed formed in my favorite games, shows, and stories were formed through surmounting mutually shared powerful challenges and obstacles.

They were true friendships, not ones formed over liking the same sports team, or mall cruising.

Heroism. Nobility. Adventure.

The central aspects of the kind of life which magnetically attracted me, were all part of non-reality.

"Stop living in a fantasy." Phrases like this one were always admonishing me, running through my head, telling me that I was not being grounded, not being part of the world the way it was.

My "survival instinct" was challenged. If I wanted to survive, if I wanted to live, then I would have to become part of reality, the real world. So...I did.

When I go on my journey, I will finally be given the chance to act in accord with my true self.

Why It's Taken So Long To Move

To put it simply, there is a good chance I might die living the kind of life I want to live. Impulsive and Impetuous. Following the ebb and flow of my energy. Honoring the feelings which course mightily inside of me.

I've hesitated because I felt I had to contribute what my nearly 30 years of slavery have taught me, the perspective they have brought me, the insights that have been made manifest to my eyes.

But I have held back for long enough. I am tired and weary and even now my insights are drying up. I must be true to myself soon, or I will not have any reason to continue living.

Children of My Own

I need to become a great deal stronger before I can have children of my own.

I sense that. That's why I journey.

Regret

I do deeply regret that I did not venture forth earlier in life, that I did not have the courage to do so. I was just afraid. I thought that there was a way for me to live the life of safety, and ease, and convention, without the fear and pain that come with being a wanderer. I was wrong.

In conventional societal terms,

I regret not having gone "backpacking" or doing my "world tour" earlier.

Now I will be a nearly 30 year old wanderer. 10 years later than is normal. I am behind.

I am one of the losers...It hurts.

Certainly it does, but, I could not force myself before. I wasn't ready.

I cannot intentionally hurt myself, nor

subject myself to pain and discomfort and misery.

I don't feel I deserve that sort of treatment. I don't feel anybody does.

Though I head out far too late in life, I understand why I do so.

Nobody else would really try to understand me, really try to help me.

It is not a part of our society for us to dedicate ourselves to insuring that others are happy.

We are raised to believe that we are on our own, that our responsibility is to make ourselves happy, and everyone else is of the same mind.

I wish that I had been able to tell someone else exactly what I needed, and they would have been able to help me understand my needs, but such was not the case...a common story.

There is nobody in our species strong enough yet to “really” go out of their way to help others, because nobody has ever done so for somebody else.

...I just want to be happy, for everyone to be happy. So, I journey.

Something to Offer

"Nothing is more fulfilling than when someone asks, 'Can anybody help?' and...YOU can."

I've always wanted to have something to offer others.

I have always wanted to have skills and abilities and knowledge and experiences, tangible bits of excellence, to generously offer and share with others, to see their eyes light up and their mouths curve into smiles, and for me to hear in their voice, to hear the tone, timbre and pitch of the words they speak,

be full of that emotion, that appreciation for my presence, for my existence. I am valuable to them.

I am special to them because I add to their life. I enhance their life.

I add magic to their existence.

Capitalist Dreams

I have never been interested in money or possessions. The idea of working, of doing something which I have to do, with the ultimate goal of just being able to survive and buy interesting baubles, repulses me. We're meant for more.

My Soul Mate

I have always had a difficult time bonding with girls. I feel insatiably restless and unsettled.

I now know that the only way I will be able to truly bond with a girl is if I am living a life where I am fully myself, where I am acting in full accord with my adventurous nature.

After all, how can a person truly bond with another if they are not true to themselves.

Acts of Heroism

Whenever I met someone who was in trouble and I felt I could help : I would. Why don't I do so now? Because I don't feel I can help anybody really. I am sad and angry all the time. Not so when I am on The Journey. Not so when everyday is an adventure. Who can feel sad living such a life?

Vol 13, E - My Best Advice For Life - Experiences

2008-12-12T04:44:00.000-08:00

The Most Important Advice I Can Give To Anyone (Including Me) Is : Know Yourself

Know yourself in your infinite complexity and ultimate simplicity.

Doing so you will find satisfaction because no one knows your true potential as truly as you do, and when you truly know yourself, you will know: that your potential is unlimited.

The Surface Layer Of Thought

In our current society we are not given the time to dig deep into our thoughts, we are only permitted to engage in the surface layer of our thoughts. We are forever operating along the periphery, never encouraged to engage the core of what is human nature.

Take Stock Of Your Life

Regularly, take time for yourself to recall and reminisce and evaluate your life.

Review the experiences you have had, the memories you have made, come to understand the person you are by reflecting upon the experiences that have made you who you are.

Just as business owners “take inventory” of their wares, you too can take inventory of the memories and experiences which make you who you are.

This is very important to do, so that you know what your past has done to make you who you are.

Otherwise, you are operating, without knowing who you are, how your experiences have made you who you are, you are being controlled by forces you don't understand and, this is simply not a healthy state to be in.

Integrate Yourself With Your Past

“A Person Is, The Sum Of Their Experiences, And,

The Feelings Of Their Present.”

Commune with yourself. Remember who you are. It is easy to lose oneself.

There are many voices influencing your life. The voices and influences of others are like a wind which scatter the leaves of your mind every which way.

Take quiet time for yourself to go about collecting all your leaves and reconnecting with them.

Not Tapping Potential

If you feel that you are not living up to your potential, don't feel bad.

Our society is not one dedicated to fulfilling potential.

I would say that nearly everyone in our society is not even beginning to tap their potential.

Being aware of this releases some of the frustration that naturally derives from knowing one's life is not being lived even remotely to its fullest.

Live your life, but, know, that if you are frustrated by a lack of fulfillment, you are perfectly normal for society as it currently is.

My advice : If you feel this way, it's time to ask yourself and everyone else to create a society 100% dedicated to tapping everyone's potential.

Dreams Are The Blueprints Of Possibilities

Entertain your fantasies, because, are they fantasies, or, are they in fact, possibilities.

New Experiences : New Things

When you have New Experiences, you learn New Things.

When you learn New Things, you gain New Perspective.

When you gain New Perspective, you grow.

A Baby : New Experiences

Curiosity is intrinsic to babies.

When a baby hears a new sound, they turn their head.

It is natural to human beings to be drawn to new things and new experiences.

As natural as a baby turning their head when they hear a new sound.

The Human Garden : New Experiences

Human beings are like a garden.

Experiences are like plants and flowers.

A garden is made beautiful by containing within it, a wide variety of different plants and animals.

New Experiences : The Body

Just as the Human Body requires the physical elements of corporeal existence : New Food, New Water, New Sleep and New Air to sustain itself, the Human Mind and the Human Heart require the magic of New Experiences to sustain them. Deficiencies in any part, results in the death of a person, either immediately, or slowly by degrees.

The Human Need To Make Connections : New Experiences

There are physical connections,

and there are the connections made in the mind and the heart.

Streets. Paths. Roads.

These are physical connections.

Neural Pathways. Emotional Bonds.

These are mental and emotional connections.

The physical connections mirror the existence of the emotional connections.

The more connections you make the more quickly and more efficiently can you travel through life.

The more things you can see.

The more varying aspects of life can you experience.

The Senses : New Experiences

When the senses are stimulated in a new fashion, the brain grows in complexity and new neural pathways are formed.

I believe that scientific experimentation will demonstrate that it is absolutely vital for human beings to be exposed to new environments for their minds to grow in complexity and ability, tying in directly with a capacity to relay information through the mind more quickly and with greater efficiency.

The Well of New Experiences

New experiences are water added to the well of your selfhood.

The more experiences you have, the more water you have to draw from your well.

New Words : New Experiences

New experiences are like learning new words.

They open up your mind to previously unconsidered possibilities.

New experiences are like new ideas and new information.

They add to you, open you up to new ways of thinking and being that you had before not considered.

New experiences are something which sink into your bones.

They integrate themselves into you and become a part of you.

New experiences, like new words, expand your mind and awaken it to heretofore unimagined ideas.

Knowing Where Services Are : New Experiences

New Experiences add to the resources you can call upon.

When you move to a new place, you immediately locate the grocery store, the bank, the shopping mall, the cinema, restaurants, recreation centers, libraries, etc.

You have learned more.

You have grown.

You have more knowledge to call upon and to draw strength from.

You know where things are.

New experiences.

New knowledge.

New understanding.

By being able to call upon these facilities, you are better able to care for yourself and others.

New Experiences : "Is Anyone Here A Doctor?"

The more experiences you have, the more helpful you can be when your fellow human beings find themselves in need of assistance.

Sometimes, More Is Less,

And, Less Is More

At the moment our species has the erroneous belief that uninhibited, exponential growth is progress. It is not so. The Universe works on the principle of recycling. Unlimited growth is unsustainable.

“Growing, is learning to do more, using less “

In today's society, we purposefully bombard ourselves with stimulus so we are not aware of just how truly sad and disconnected we genuinely feel.

Consider, disengaging, and, taking time, all the time you need, to focus on just one thing : knowing you.

Conclusion

I offer you my best advice gladly, but, truthfully, I really have no idea what I'm doing.

This stuff is just the best advice I can give at this stage of my life.

I encourage you to ultimately advise yourself and find your own path. I do.

Take what you find useful and what you do not, simply disregard.

Every grain of sand offers a different perspective on life.

The way to live life is to appreciate every grain, learn from every grain, but, ultimately, to be your own unique grain.

Vol 13, D - My Best Advice For Life - Others

2008-12-12T04:43:00.001-08:00

It Is Difficult To Celebrate The Success Of Others, If You Feel You Cannot Celebrate Your Own

When other human beings are successful but oneself is not, it is an unbalanced state.

Human beings exist in two separate states simultaneously : as an individual and a member of the species.

Unless both aspects are fully actualized, a human being is neither healthy nor balanced.

If You Aren't Feeling Attractive, Simply Don't 'See' Attractive People

Feeling your heart beat faster, your blood begin to boil and sweat appearing on your brow is unpleasant when you don't feel worthy of being noticed yourself.

In these instances simply ignore the person, don't 'see' them.

Look right past them. Look right through them.

The way life should be is everybody looking in the mirror and thinking, "Damn. I'm hot." When an attractive person looked at you, you knew they were enjoying what they were seeing.

When such is not the case, it is painful for both parties. Until our species matures and insures that everyone is “a sexy beast", don't “see” attractive people when you aren't feeling so yourself. You don't deserve to suffer. Nobody does.

A Healthy Relationship Is When Two People Are Strong Apart, And Become Stronger Together

,or,

When One Person Is So Strong, They Are Able To Carry The Other Person Until They Are Strong Enough To Carry Themselves

In both cases, both people "need" each other and "feed" each other at the same time. Give and Take. The intimate union of two human beings is an intricate exchange of energy. Energy need flow both ways, lest one person become wholly depleted and the relationship collapses.

People Hurt Others To Express Their Own Pain

When people say hurtful things, look to the pains they do not talk about. It is their unspoken pains which are speaking. Human beings are naturally loving, generous and noble. It is only when human nature is perverted by unexpressed pain that human beings are hurtful.

Make Them As Children

When you feel anxious or apprehensive around adults, do a very simple thing : imagine them as children. Picture how they likely were when they were children. By seeing, large, angry, intimidating adults as the children they once were before the cruelty and callousness of a Capitalist system turned them into the cynical, bitter adults they are, you will find that you can understand the pain they are in, and the crushed dreams they carry close to their hearts, and you will find you have empathy for them, and they are not so scary after all.

Tell Children Of Your Regrets

In a society which does not support nor encourage people to follow their dreams with absolute, unfailing dedication, it is inevitable that the vast majority of adults are ladened with regrets. It is vitally important that disenchanted adults tell the next generation of all the regrets their heart is full of, to show the sadness that weighs them down in all its melancholy pressure, so that children see and feel irrevocably the pain that all those regrets have caused adults.

By telling children of your regrets, by showing them the emotional pain those regrets cause, you help them to avoid having those same regrets in their own life. In Antiquity when someone ate a poisonous mushroom and died, their having identified that mushroom helped the rest of their people. We human beings help each other, by telling one another of the regrets which have made our lives much less wonderful than we envisioned they could be.

Everybody Is Doing The Best They Can With What They Know

That means that nobody knows what is the “right” way to do things, only the best way they are aware of.

That means that any way you come up with to do things is just as valid as any of their ways because there is no “right” way to do things.

It is important for a person to not limit themselves based on what they believe other people consider is the right way for something to be done.

The Greatest Thing You Can Do For Another Human Being, Is To Be One Of The Forces Contributing To Their Growth.

The Worst Thing You Can Do To Another Human Being, Is To Be One Of The Forces Causing Them To Diminish.

Enhance Others

When you make others better, you make yourself better; for the higher they climb, the greater heights you will be inspired to raise yourself to.

Look At The Person Who Gives You Advice

When somebody gives you advice, look at the person, feel the person, see the person, and ask yourself if you want to heed the advice of this person.

Earn Your Own Respect

The person you can truly count on,

the one who will always be there for you is : you.

The person who always has to act on your behalf is : yourself.

Earn your own respect,

because more than anybody else,

your respect is the one you most need to earn.

If You Accept The Way Others See Things, You Are Blind To Your Own Vision

Ultimately the way you perceive existence is different from every single other person on the planet.

Such is the truth of being an individual.

Trying to adopt somebody else's beliefs as your own, cannot but create friction inside yourself.

You are a unique puzzle piece.

Trying to get somebody else to fit you : will not work.

The Only Person You Can Truly Count On (At This Stage Of Human Evolution) Is : Yourself

Until Humanity thinks of itself as an intrinsically interconnected species,

one bonded with each other, with animal and plant life and with the universe itself...

So long as human beings view themselves as separate and distinct and "better" than the rest of existence,

human beings CANNOT truly care for each other, and the only advice you can truly count on is your own.

The only person who truly knows you is : you.

The only person who truly understands what you have gone through is : you.

The only person who can ever truly care for everything that makes you you is : you.

When Humanity has learned telepathy, linking and the other techniques of human communication beyond the primitive ones of lingual and gesticule, human beings will be able to genuinely and wholly care for and understand one another.

Until we reach that level, you are the only one who really “gets you”.

With this in mind : temet nosce. (know thyself) and amore nosce (love thyself).

Know that human beings have the capability to truly bond with each other, but, we have not reached that state of evolution yet.

Knowing this you have something to strive for and look forward to.

You will not feel so disappointed by the lack of connection between us, the lack of a true bond that leaves the heart wanting.

We are most certainly capable of that connection we crave, it lies in our future.

For now, know what we are as a species, what we are capable of, and know that you are the only one so far who can truly understand you.

Don't worry. You are more than profound enough to take eternity to get to know, For you are limitless.

Nobody Really Knows Anything

Know implies Permanence. An impossible state in a universe where the only constant is change.

People will offer you their advice, but, if they try to pass off their advice as certain knowledge, there is no need to accept it as such, because the truth is that nothing in the universe is certain.

Ultimately, heed your own advice.

Thank people for theirs, but know that it is not certainty, just belief.

Conclusion

I offer you my best advice gladly, but, truthfully, I really have no idea what I'm doing.

This stuff is just the best advice I can give at this stage of my life.

I encourage you to ultimately advise yourself and find your own path. I do.

Take what you find useful and what you do not, simply disregard.

Every grain of sand offers a different perspective on life.

The way to live life is to appreciate every grain, learn from every grain, but, ultimately, to be your own unique grain.

Vol 13, C - My Best Advice For Life - To Think

2008-12-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

Every Experience Plants A Seed

Every experience in your life plants a seed deep within you.

“The Experiences of Today, Become, The Epiphanies of Tomorrow.”

So, even if an experience is painful, and you do not see its immediate value, just know that someday the experience will demonstrate its value to you.

The Sun Will Rise

Even when experiences are difficult, know that the sun will rise, and you will feel better.

Ask The Questions You Need To Ask, To Find The Answers You Need To Know

In our current society we are not taught to “ask questions”, to be “inquisitive”, to be “free thinkers”.

We are encouraged to be “followers”, to “not rock the boat”, to “fall in line”, and “be happy with what you've got”.

But, there will always be an insistent voice deep inside of you, which will not be silenced, telling you that you want more out of life, and the more time you spend trying to muffle that voice, the louder it will get.

Human Beings cannot be fulfilled unless they feel they are realizing their full potential.

To find the paths which will lead you to your full potential, ask the questions you need to ask, the questions which will direct you to the paths which will lead you to realizing your potential.

Socrates back in Ancient Greece trained his students to be ask carefully constructed questions. He knew that responsible, fulfilled citizens were ones who knew how to ask the questions which would open the paths for the knowledge they desired out of life, to seek what they genuinely sought. This is called the Socratic Method, and it is something sadly lacking in this world of “making due” and “settling for things”.

Tools Should Be Thought Of As Extensions Of Humanity, Not Replacements

A sword should be thought of as an extension of the arm, not a replacement for the human being who wields it.

Tools are what have made civilization possible; Human Beings are what have made tools possible.

Don't let your tools replace your humanity.

Words Are Tools, Not Truths

Words are simply containers for what we perceive in our reality.

They are labels we give to our perceptions so that we may communicate them to each other until our species has evolved its telepathic abilities.

The “truth” of a word is that which you infuse it with.

With words you build the structure of your perceptions and beliefs.

If a word isn't contributing to the construction of your belief structure, change it to a more appropriate one, as you would any tool.

Words Give Shape To Your Reality

Make yourself as knowledgeable of words as a linguist.

As creative with words as a poet.

As efficient with words as a lawyer.

Words are humanity's greatest invention. Words give shape to your reality, and what you perceive as reality is the reality you live in,so give shape to one you want, one you feel resonates with you.

Create Your Own Words

If you can't find a word which is contributing to the construction of your belief structure, invent a new one, just as you would any tool.

Your experience as a human being is unique to that of any other human being in the history of the species.

When you have an experience that does not have a word ascribed to it, consider creating your own.

That is how our ancestors created words. We can do the same.

A Simple Tip : Express your experience with as many words as you need. Then take a combination of the words prefixes and suffixes to create a new word. e.g : Sense of Fullness Which Brings No Satisfaction. = Fulnosa (Full No Satisfaction)

Another Tip : Find the Translation of Words You Used To Express Your Experience In Other Languages And Combine Them To Make A New Word.

Every Aspect Of Life Is A Reflection Of Every Other Aspect Of Life. Understand Any Aspect Of Life, And Be Possessed Of The Capacity To Understand Every Aspect Of Life.

If you know that drinking water alleviates thirst, or eating food satisfies hunger, then you can understand anything in the entirety of existence. Everything in existence operates along patterns, and these patterns hold across supposedly “different” aspects of existence. The reason they hold? Simple. Difference is illusion. It's all the same thing. So, if you understand anything, you can understand everything. That simple.

Know Wordlessly

If you cannot put words to the sensations you are experiencing,

know and feel them wordlessly.

Words are nothing more, nothing less then labels we give to the abstractions we perceive.

True connection with the universe comes from something more then just giving it a name.

If you feel a special connection with a particular part of the universe, consider giving it your own name, thus do you create a personal bond with it, one that shares your wordless feelings.

Teach By Analogy

Patterns of the Universe hold across seemingly “different” aspects of it.

When teaching something unfamiliar, explain it through reference to the well known.

Explain Banking to an old homemaker by referring to Baking.

Teach things through metaphor.

If You Want To Truly Know Something : After Learning It, Teach It To Someone Else

Being able to “truly” communicate with another person requires a genuine connection with the language one uses, the terminology. Otherwise two people find they "don't get each other".

When you teach what you know to someone else, you are placed in a position of necessity, of truly having connected with the material, with its unique words.

Only by having truly connected and bonded with the material are you able to convey it to someone else in a manner that genuinely can "speak" to them.

Thus, teaching someone else, requires you to come to know your knowledge with a heretofore unknown intimacy.

There's More Than One Way To Reach The Goal

When you feel badly because you did not do something you felt needed to be done to achieve your goals, don't despair.

There are always options. Always.

The only constant is change.

Change is just another way of saying options, thus, there will always be options. It is a constant.

Distance Brings Perspective

When you find you can't tell the forest from the trees, distance yourself, until you achieve perspective.

When you can't find your way in life, distance yourself from your problems, so that you may see them differently, and thus approach their resolution in a new way.

Traveling is thus the greatest thing a human being can do to appreciate the human experience : whether that traveling be external or internal

“I Don't Know” Is A Very Wise Thing To Know

Saying, “I know” closes your mind to “Coming to know”. “I don't know” keeps your mind open to knowing. There are things that you seem to “know”, but that is illusion for the only constant about anything, is that it is changing.

Without Contrast, You Cannot See

Without darkness, there is no light.

Without light, you cannot see.

Thus, without darkness, you cannot see. The illusion of difference is essential for appreciating the human experience.

The most degenerative state for human beings is : stagnancy.

Variety is the spice of life.

To truly know something, know its opposite. Again, travel is the way one comes to “see” the human experience.

Conclusion

I offer you my best advice gladly, but, truthfully, I really have no idea what I'm doing.

This stuff is just the best advice I can give at this stage of my life.

I encourage you to ultimately advise yourself and find your own path. I do.

Take what you find useful and what you do not, simply disregard.

Every grain of sand offers a different perspective on life.

The way to live life is to appreciate every grain, learn from every grain, but, ultimately, to be your own unique grain.

Vol 13, B - My Best Advice For Life - To Feel

2008-12-12T04:34:00.000-08:00

The Most Important Question You Can Ask Yourself Is :

How Do I Feel?

Your feelings are the Truth of who you are. To not be in balance with your feelings, is to not be in balance with yourself.

Your Emotions Are The Fuel For Your Actions

"Your Heart is the Sun.

Your Mind Is the Lens."

The Sun is life's elemental source of energy. Emotions are the Sun of the Human Universe.

Just as the Sun is converted into different forms of energy, so too do emotions express themselves in different ways.

Just as we collect, store and distribute physical forms of energy, you can feel, remember, and channel the energy of your emotions.

Just as we continue to improve our ability to harness the energy of the sun in its varying manifestations, you can improve your own ability to harness the energy of your emotions

The result for all of us, and for yourself, is the driving force of life : growth.

Powerful Emotions Are Like Large Waves : Use Them To Carry You Great Distances

The Universe Exploded And Then It Cooled...

Powerful experiences provide the initial burst of energy to set the machinery of creation in motion.

The initial energy requires the time and patience that tranquility affords to properly guide and channel that energy into forms and shapes that can be used as pillars and foundations for the construction of a persona.

Emotions Are Like A Nuclear Power Plant

Emotions provide massive amounts of energy. But if the energy starts to get out of control. Shut it down until you are ready to deal with it,

else you risk being overwhelmed.

If you are overwhelmed, you can recover of course...but it will take time...

Swimming Against The Current

Emotions are like a river. When you do something that doesn't feel right, you are going against the natural flow of who you are. Naturally : this is exhausting and will drain you greatly.

Allow The Current To Carry You

Life is like a river.

You can paddle where you want to go, but this can exhaust your arms and your resolve.

Sometimes it is best to stop paddling, allow your arms and spirit to rest, and allow the river to carry you whence it will.

If you spend your entire time trying to guide and fight the current, you eventually exhaust yourself and can do neither.

Sometimes you just have to let the current carry you.

When You Do Not Feel Good, Actions Are Difficult. When You Feel Good Actions Are Easy.

Emotions are indivisible from your life. Your feelings are essential to living.

A Splintered Society,

A Strained Species

Current society is constantly forcing you to pull yourself apart, to

disconnect from yourself,

creating schisms in your personality.

you are simply not permitted to be who you are, your true, sensitive self.

The Void

When you feel that you are being overwhelmed by emotions, by life, sequester your awareness in a bubble of null-space.

While in this bubble you are more observer of your existence than participant.

It is a defense mechanism to insure you continue to function without the burden of pain making it impossible to move.

It is not a state that can be maintained indefinitely though.

It is a short-term, survival technique not a long-term living strategy.

Human Emotions are our source of Energy for actions.

Lessening the flow of emotions, or cutting them off completely will cause a person's heart and mind to wither and eventually die, until one is little more than a shell of existence : the living dead.

The Void is as old as humanity, but like any tool, needs to be understood to be used well.

If Something Is Too Much For You To Deal With, Just Ignore It...

Although Someday You Will Have To Address it in some form or another. Energy cannot be destroyed and neither can problems, they only change form.

It is an integral part of the species to suppress difficulties until a person feels capable of dealing with them.

However, suppressed pain is like a splinter in one's being and will eventually become infected and cripple a person.

The possibility that you become stronger later on in life to deal with a problem naturally exists; however, dealing with a difficulty at the moment it arises can afford you with the opportunity to channel the pain of it into strength.

Pain Is Like A Storm

When you experience very painful situations, it is like a storm.

The wind is blowing fiercely,

Water is flooding,

The earth is shaking

It is exceptionally difficult to do anything but try to retain your identity and struggle to survive

Painful situations are like storms.

Once the earth has stilled, the water receded, the lightning ceased to blind you, and the wind died down from pressing you up against the wall,

calm returns, and you can assess and understand what the pain has done,

what the pain meant,

why the pain happened,

you can understand the pain,

and you can use the experience to grow and help to insure that the next time, the pain does not affect you so intensely or horribly.

The pain will have passed and you will have remained and the tendrils of energy left behind will be yours to channel into actions you need to take.

Enduring The Pain

When you are in a painful situation,

and you don't know how to extricate yourself, endure, and know with certainty that you are learning from the experience,the experience is making you grow, the experience is making you stronger, and one day you will be able to insure you will not be subjected to the experience again.

Painful Experiences : Learning to Walk

Learning to walk involves a great deal of falling, which hurts.

But once the pain has passed,

once the pain has worked itself through you, you have been scoured clear and new and are ready to try again.

You have grown from the fall and the likelihood that you will repeat the same difficulty which caused you to fall in the first place is reduced.

Painful experiences inevitably cause you to grow.

Denying Pain : Ignoring a Wound

When you experience something painful, understand that you are in pain,

do not deny the truth of it to yourself.

You are suffering, it is unfair to yourself to deny the pain and suffering,

If you deny the pain.

If you pretend that the pain doesn't exist.

If you try to ignore the pain, the fact that you are suffering, that you do not feel right.

It is as if you ignore a wound and allow it to fester and become infected and make you ill inside yourself.

Acknowledging the wound enables you to treat it and be better ready to insure that you do not sustain it in the future.

The Litany Against Fear

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

Conclusion

I offer you my best advice gladly, but, truthfully, I really have no idea what I'm doing.

This stuff is just the best advice I can give at this stage of my life.

I encourage you to ultimately advise yourself and find your own path. I do.

Take what you find useful and what you do not, simply disregard.

Every grain of sand offers a different perspective on life.

The way to live life is to appreciate every grain, learn from every grain, but, ultimately, to be your own unique grain.

Vol 13, A - My Best Advice For Life - To Know

2008-12-12T04:26:00.000-08:00

Magic

The human experience is one in which we do not know everything, one where we enjoy the wonder of discovering new things.

This feeling of wonder is Magic.

If the feeling of Magic is missing from your life, search for that essential “spark” which makes life worth living.

If You Are Not Sure Of Yourself, You Are Not Sure Of Your Footing In Life

If you are not sure of your footing in life, then you are susceptible to falling over.

Know Yourself : and thus be able to stand on your own two feet.

Life Is Like A Path

You travel it regularly day after day.

By journeying in your mind.

By taking walks in the park of your thoughts and ideas.

You come to know the paths with the intimacy of your hand, your face.

In this way you gain familiarity with the routes and courses your thoughts follow, the way your mind works.

Heart Isn't In It

If your heart isn't in what you do, then you are disconnected from your actions, segregated from them.

If your heart isn't in something, you are utilizing a fraction of your potential when you engage in it.

It is like trying to pick up a child with your pinky.

The More Experiences You Have, The Greater You Will Become

Seek out new worlds and new civilizations.

The more you know, the more you feel. The more you live, the more you are alive. The more you do, the more you are fulfilling human potential.

Expose yourself to all the experiences you can imagine.

You will only become richer.

Naturally that includes those when you are venturing inwards, and traveling the paths of your mind.

Far Off Look In Your Eye

Don't disrupt yourself when you find you're staring off into the distance with a far off look in your eye.

When it looks like you do not see what is around you, this is a very good thing. It means that you are seeing beyond the everyday and the mundane, into the uncharted realms of possibility.

Often times the answers we need are not found in the superficial world of external input taken in by our senses, but in the entirely separate yet equally vital world of the mind.

Tip : If you do this often and you're worried about people staring : wear sunglasses or look out the window.

Know The Vision You Have Of Yourself, And Know The Map Guiding Your Life

The way you see yourself is the way you treat yourself. Look into your inner mirror and see the path you have prepared yourself to follow.

Running by the Rose

When you run by something,

you might be able to describe it in vague detail,but not with any true accuracy.

That is because you did not genuinely look at it.

In order to genuinely bond and connect with something,

you must stop and take the time to get to know it.

Take the time to stop and smell the roses.

Everything in existence is separate until you come to know it. Then it becomes a part of you, as much as your hands or eyes.

The Inner World Is Every Bit As Vast As The Outer World, And Begs Exploration And Understanding Every Bit As Much.

Our society has a propensity for searching for answers in the exterior world. "Maybe you need to travel." "You need to go out." "Watch a movie." "Read a book." "Talk to a friend." "Go for a walk."

We do not focus on a person traveling the paths inside themselves, of looking inside for the answers that they seek.

We need to become a society that knows, that understands, that when a person is struggling to find meaning in life, they need do nothing more than travel the roads and paths of their inner self.

Lying Down & Sitting Down for Profound Introspection

Both lying down and sitting down have merit when searching one's Inner world; however, I believe being seated in a comfortable chair is a better choice.

Lying down, one is in the position of sleep, and the kind of inner experience one is more inclined to have will be akin to dreaming, being a passive observer of one's visions and fantasies.

Sitting down, one is comfortable, yet still upright, and more alert. The message one sends to oneself is that of actively searching the Inner World for thoughts and ideas, earnestly seeking the kernels of understanding to better know oneself.

Think Of Your Chair As A Portal, A Gateway, An Opening To Another World

From the Command Chair of your recliner you are able to explore limitless possibilities in the vast unexplored reaches of your mind.

Hear the Universe

When you are seated in your comfortable chair,

immersed in the darkness and the silence,

you can hear the universe speak to you,

you can feel existence around you,

you can remember what it was like to be unlimited before you took this temporary, corporeal form.

Your chair is the vehicle by which you travel to possibilities you had heretofore not even considered.

They are all there.

In the infinite reaches of your mind.

Isolate Yourself

When you find yourself overwhelmed by life, isolate yourself.

Sit down in your comfortable chair, in the darkness and in the silence, and find yourself anew.

When you are feeling overwhelmed by life, Dedicate Yourself to doing those things YOU KNOW heal you and restore you to your path.

Longer Isolation for More Severe Mental and Emotional Injuries

When you are severely overwhelmed by life, isolate yourself for a protracted period of time.

Severe Injuries require a lengthy recovery time.

So too is it with injuries of the mind and heart.

Animals know this. When they are injured they find a safe, sheltered space near water and simply rest.

Sit in your comfortable chair, in the darkness and the silence,to understand the unconscious forces driving you, and allow your mind to heal itself.

Take All The Time You Need To Find Your Path

After all, civilization required the time afforded by animal husbandry and agriculture. Growth requires time.

Times of Peace

You cannot build while immersed in war.

A seed cannot grow if it does not have the peace and tranquility required for it to germinate.

Periods of Activity and

Periods of Rest

The entire universe functions on periods of activity and periods of rest.

Human beings are no different.

When you find yourself having spent a great deal of energy on activity,

know that this time need be followed by a period of rest.

Allow Your Mind To Show You What It Needs To Show You

We spend so much time suppressing our true feelings and thoughts that they exist as a bulging shifting mass just below the layer of our consciousness.

When you sit down in your comfortable chair allow your mind to communicate with you, undo the restraints that survival in an emotionally constipated world imposed on you, and listen to your battered and bloodied true-self speak.

Immerse Yourself

"Immerse Yourself In The Silence,

And Let The Silence Speak."

Conclusion

I offer you my best advice gladly, but, truthfully, I really have no idea what I'm doing.

This stuff is just the best advice I can give at this stage of my life.

I encourage you to ultimately advise yourself and find your own path. I do.

Take what you find useful and what you do not, simply disregard.

Every grain of sand offers a different perspective on life.

The way to live life is to appreciate every grain, learn from every grain, but, ultimately, to be your own unique grain.

Vol 12 - The Revolution of Feeling

2008-12-12T03:46:00.000-08:00

“Our Society Does Need A Revolution.

A Revolution Of Feeling.”

A Revolution of Allowing Ourselves to Feel.
A Revolution of Allowing Others to Feel.
A Revolution of Allowing Ourselves and Others To Take As Long As They Need To Feel.
A Revolution of Expressing Our Feelings No Matter What They Are.
A Revolution of Understanding That A Person's Feelings Are The Most Important Thing.
We are all very hard on one another.
Saying what we truly feel is silently taboo.
We all feel forced to wear masks to survive.
Such living is taking its toll on all of us.
The release is simple :
Talk about our feelings, freely and openly.
Then we will be true to each other.
Then we can live in peace with each other.
A revolution of our hearts.

Tears :

Shedding The Water of Life

Tears are a form of communication and an incomparably powerful one.

Why do so many adults tell their children not to cry? Because they know that the sight of tears will soften their heart and weaken their ironclad discipline.

Tears communicate more eloquently and simply pain than words ever can.

Our society places an unsaid taboo on shedding tears because it has been seen as a sign of weakness for time immemorial.

Men who cried were called Women and seen as emasculated and weak.

Women who cried for more than a few moments were considered weak as well and setting a bad example for children.

For a poor species who has since the dawn of its inception, felt that it was in an never ending struggle for survival with its very environment, weakness was something which would reduce the chance for survival and had to be suppressed at all costs.

But tears are a natural, physiological aspect of a Human Being. As much a part of being Human, as breathing, or eating, or sleeping. A Human Being can suppress any biological function, but doing so will always and without fail cause damage to the Human system. The suppression of tears is no different.

When a person is in pain, nothing communicates more eloquently or directly this state to a fellow human being than tears.

Tears need to be encouraged to let flow. Pressure needs to be encouraged to be released. Otherwise it bloats and disfigures a person and makes it near impossible for them to enjoy life.

World War III :

The War for The Freedom To Express Feelings

“All human problems can be traced back to someone's hurt feelings.”

I believe, and, I feel, that all wars have their roots in people's hurt feelings.

This is plain in wars fought over family pride, yet is still the root cause in wars fought over seemingly natural causes like resources.

How? If everyone shared resources equally with one another, there would be no need to fight over them. Why do people not share their resources equally with one another? Because of hurt feelings. Because of unexpressed resentments and unresolved grudges.

“The nature of pressure is that it must be released.”

If feelings are not expressed in the natural, healthy way for Human Beings, that is talking freely, crying, screaming, then feelings will express themselves in sublimated (and assuredly more violent) ways.

I do not want to experience a World War. I do not want there to be any more war in the world at all. I do not think and I do not feel war is necessary anymore. I do not believe it ever was. I believe we have just been suppressing our feelings for so long that it has become almost habit to us, we've forgotten why we do it, and war is the faucet, the plug, the magnet, the most familiar tool we have to express our pent up frustrations, the ones we are not permitted to express in ways natural to us.

If we continue to repress our feelings the way we do, the way we raise our children to, then we are going to push ourselves into another war.

“Parents who do not heal a violent world, condemn their children to fighting in one.”

I am very sorry for the harshness of the above quote. I put it here because, I simply cannot avoid the raw, painful truthfulness of it.

It would be important that we, as a species, would know why we were engaged in another World War :and the reason would be because we did not permit ourselves or others to freely and fully express our feelings.

"And when the bodies of the dead are piled so high they block out the sun, the survivors will look at each other, look inside themselves, and then ask, 'Why did it come to this...' And the answer will be : because we didn't allow ourselves to express our feelings and the pressure built up until it exploded in the wave of death which engulfed the planet."

The solution is always, simply : express our feelings, freely and truly.

Human : The Thinking / Feeling Creature

“Human Beings Are The Most Deeply Feeling and Thinking Creatures On The Planet.”

Without a doubt, we Human Beings are the most intelligent creatures on the planet. All one need do is marvel at the many “works of our hands” to recognize this.

I believe we Human Beings are also the most deeply feeling creatures on the planet.

I believe this is also made evident in the many marvelous “works of our hands”. How so? Because, I believe, the creative energy behind the incredible projects we realize stems from an insatiable need for love and attention from our fellow Human Beings.

The awesome scale of our intellectual feats is directly proportional to the tremendous potency of our feelings, more potent than that of any animal on the planet.

“Human Beings Are The Only Animal On The Planet Which Continues To Mourn For The Passing Of Loved Ones For A Lifetime.”

Once upon a time, there was a species called Human.

Human Beings were the most deeply feeling creature on the planet.

Human Beings came into the world sensitive and gentle.

“If you want to know the true nature of human beings, just look at children, how easily affectionate and innocent they are. That is how human beings truly are before the callouses of adulthood cover a person up.”

Human Beings are the most sensitive creatures on the planet, but, life has been hard on human beings.

Human Beings are naturally, generous and loving creatures, but the environment was always harsh.

Cold would bite our flesh.

Predators would hunt us.

Earthquakes would swallow us.

It seemed as if Nature was always trying to destroy us and end our fragile existence.

Naturally this caused us to harden our hearts. The naturally gentle, loving temperament that was our truest selves, was hardened and tempered by all the abuse and pain, the natural world forced upon us.

We taught ourselves to suppress our feelings.

To be feeling too deeply was to be vulnerable to the innumerable ways Nature would try to hurt us.

Suppressing feelings became a matter of survival.

To feel was to be vulnerable.

Yet, such is not the genuine reality

The solution to humanity woes was not to fight with nature but to come to understand nature, to come to understand nature's truth.

When human beings would come to understand the patterns of nature's behavior, to teach that knowledge to their children, to understand the truth of nature's patterns, that is when humanity could live in harmony with nature's behavior and to understand that nature had no intention of hurting humanity, of destroying the human spirit, nature acted in accord with its nature, with its truest essence. For humanity to coexist with that essence, simply required humanity to understand the patterns that nature follows

The Need To Feel Special

"It is only through the eyes of others that our little lives have any significance. When no one will acknowledge you or even look at you, it is as though you do not exist."

The Need To Feel Welcome

Human Beings have a need to feel welcome, a need to know that they are accepted in the presence of their fellow Human Beings.

Without it, a person is always afraid that they will be exiled and ostracized, their survival put in jeopardy because they were not accepted by the group.

A world where people are welcomed is a world where people are peaceful.

Vol 11 - Further Thoughts On Pain As A Source of Energy for Growth

2008-09-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Further Thoughts on Pain As A Source of Energy for Growth

What Doesn't Kill You...

This saying and its countless vague permutations are spouted at will when the prospect of a challenging situation appears, but, the actual reasoning behind the saying is always foggy.

I believe the previous issue and the following thoughts can help make the reason clearer.

The Hand That Touches The Stove

Human beings know their world through their senses.

Human beings are mind, heart and body.

When a parent cautions their child against touching a hot element on the stove, the child has a mental understanding of the idea that touching the hot stove will cause pain, and, an emotional understanding that Mommy or Daddy are saying this out of love.

Why does the child still touch the hot element?

To confirm with all their senses that the reality purported by their parents is indeed real.

The human organism is a subtle thing with countless shades of awareness and perception.

The perception of reality is a combination of countless minutiae.

If the child feels inclined to touch the stove, I believe, they should.

The pain will cause the child to pull their hand away immediately and confirm for them in the deepest recesses of their cellular awareness the truth that their parents were trying to convey to them in a way that mere words and gestures never could.

It is the subtlety of knowing a thing, in a way beyond the abstract constructs of the mind, to know a thing with the raw, carnal, immediacy of the physical.

Such is the power of pain. It is not something to be feared. It is integral to the Human Experience, an element to be understood and cultivated as a part of Healthy Human Development.

Athletes

All Athletes understand the role of pain in their lives.

It is quite simply a fundamental aspect of their existence.

Athletes understand that pain is an experience they must come to understand and arrive at a personal reckoning with.

Pain is indeed difficult.

Pain is indeed challenging.

But the presence of pain and its surmounting is the essence of Athletic achievement, leading to the incomparable sensation of : growth.

“Growth and Pain are Inseparably Entwined.”

Weight Training

Some pain is an indication of growth.

Great pain is an indication of damage.

Gaining muscle weight training is a process of experience and developing an awareness and understanding of “Good” pain versus “Bad” pain.

In weight training, pain is a tool, one intrinsically integrated with the muscle building experience.

It is not a monster to be avoided, it is a companion to be understood and a rapport built with.

Pain as Injury

When an animal is injured, it seeks a place near water, which is safe, where it can rest, drink water and allow its body time to heal.

Time is the central motif of recovery from injury.

When time is allowed to heal an injury, the animal (or person) afterwards is made stronger and wiser.

Human Nature

It is, once again, a question of Human Nature.

Human Beings are sensitive, empathetic creatures and we do not like to see suffering, including the suffering of ourselves.

When pain touches us directly, we instantly become galvanized to do something to alleviate it.

That is how pain works.

Pain is a motivator.

It is a basic, instinctive reaction to undesirable stimulus exposed to the human organism in some fashion.

The basic message of pain is :

"DANGER. Human Organism being damaged or compromised in some fashion. Seek out a strategy for the alleviation of pain, lest it do permanent damage.”

With this understanding in mind, when a person engages in a painful experience the entirety of the person becomes filled with an energy to reach reconciliation. Guiding the energy of that reconciliation with purpose (the knowledge and reason why the experience was sought) is the key to rapid recovery and enabling one to permit the experiencing of a painful experience in the first place.

A Sure Thing?

"The only constant in existence, is that nothing will stay constant."

Double-Negatives.

Infinite Permutations of Paradox.

Such is existence.

Nothing is possible, and, Anything is possible.

Emotional Pain can destroy a person, and, Emotional Pain can be turned into a source of Fuel for Action.

How?

Because the Emotional Pain was brought about in the pursuit of a personal goal, a personal quest, a personal mantra, and thus, the Emotional Pain is intimately intertwined with the desired goal, with the wished for aim.

As such, the Emotional Pain was a direct result of the pursuit of one's desired aim, and, the mind, the body, the personal essence that is you, is aware of this fact, and understands that the Pain you are suffering was experienced as a consequence of pursuing the goal.

"You nobly sacrificed in a heroic attempt to achieve something with your life. The You deep inside is not lost to this fact and becomes doubly resolved to see your wished for goal become a reality."

“The pain was experienced in the pursuit of an end to which one was deeply dedicated and thus, the pain is a tactile, tangible, visceral affirmation of one's desire to successfully experience something, and thus is an affirmation, rather than a condemnation.”

Chicks Dig It

Chris Cagle understands the indivisible value of pain as a catalyst for growth in the Human Experience.

The Greatest Pain of the Human Experience

"Just go up and talk to her/him."

Have you ever had a friend give you this advice, when you expressed interest in an attractive member of the opposite sex?

Have you ever wondered WHY your friend gave you such advice when you were certain you were going to be rejected.

Have you ever wished your friend hadn't offered their advice in the first place because now your awareness has been opened up to a possibility it had heretofore not considered, and the lack of trying the possibility cuts you to the quick and causes you to feel ashamed and pathetic.

Probably your friend never fully fleshed out their reasoning behind giving you the advice.

They most certainly have your best interests in mind though. : )

Human beings like to see their fellow human beings happy (when they themselves are happy as well of course. everyone should be happy after all.).

Your friend's instincts tell them that you taking a chance and possibly, perhaps very likely, getting hurt will still result in a benefit, in growth, for you.

How is it possible that an experience which causes you pain, suffering, misery and humiliation can possibly be a good thing?

Because pain is a catalyst for change, a source of energy for growth.

If you make a successful connection, this is wonderful, but, if you do not, you still have benefited.

The Pain of Rejection hurts brutally, but it awakens a powerful cyclone of emotion and energy within you. That energy need only be guided.

As young children, before inhibitions are imposed on us, when an attempt at friendship is denied, we innocently ask, “Why don't you like me?” We still ought ask this question.

Perhaps it is our clothes. Perhaps it is our skin. Perhaps it is our breath. Perhaps it is our hair. Perhaps it isn't physical, perhaps it is the way we carry ourselves. Perhaps we present ourselves as timid, or too aggressive. Perhaps it is because we spilled a drink on them. , _ , ...

When we look into the eyes of the person with whom we wanted to connect and we hear from their mouth the reasons why they were not attracted to us, we can channel the powerful pain swirling within us and use it as energy to fuel change (after our heart stops bleeding of course : ' (

“Human Emotions are the Fuel of Human Actions.”

Days. Weeks. Months. Years later. When the pain has subsided and the mind is free to reason, you can understand the changes you can make, and you have the energy, the inertia, the momentum, to make them.

Or maybe you decide the object of your affection just totally sucked. >_>

Either way, you put yourself out there, and you have grown, that is the ultimate reason for experiencing pain.

Your friend's pretty bright. ; )

Pain as a Source of Energy :

Still More Thoughts

Seek out pain.

Why?

Because the experience is a form of energy.

This is guaranteed.

You sought out the painful experience with the desire that it would enhance you, with a specific goal in mind, and this is what you will receive eventually because of the pain, because the pain gives you energy, because the pain fuels you.

Don't shy away from an experience just because of the possibility that it will cause you pain.

Why?

Pain is a form of energy, use it to help you to grow, or more specifically, pain is a form of energy which causes one to grow.

Seek out pain, because if you seek it out with the specific idea in mind that even if the experience is painful it was worth it, you know, with absolute certainty, that it will help you to grow.

I particularly value this advice as it helps me to know why I should take risks, and go out of my way, and take a chance to experience painful emotions.

My life experiences have demonstrated to me that doing so plants seeds in me which blossom later.

What causes them to blossom?

A catalyst of some sort.

Having a purpose in life.

When you seek out a painful experience because you have a purpose, the experience becomes something edifying, even if it was painful.

Purpose is the guiding light that gives journeying its purpose and direction and with purpose in mind, painful experiences become filled with significance and become a certain, a guaranteed form of energy.

It is coming to understand pain, understanding that pain is not something to be run away from, it is not something to flee from, it is not something that is not destructive or ruining, it is a energy in a sharp, stinging form which cuts and heightens the awareness of a person.

Understanding that pain is a form of energy, not an enemy, and that understanding its nature can make it so that pain is an experience to be sought out, not avoided, enables one to understand pain is part of the steps that need to be taken for growth.

Hiding Ourselves

The reason we hide our true selves is because we are afraid we will be especially vulnerable when others will invariably hurt us.

If we are badly hurt, we do not expect anyone will stop to help us.

Human beings are naturally sensitive, loving creatures, when : they are healthy.

Humanity has still not reached the evolutionary state where Human beings are acting fully human, in tune with their true nature.

The time is coming very soon though when Humanity will begin to realize its potential.

Until that time, we should not hold ourselves back from experiences because of the potential they will cause us pain.

Rather we should actively pursue them because of the certain knowledge that the experience will most assuredly strengthen us and cause us to grow.

Vol 10 - The Human Experience : The Capacity to Suppress Pain

2008-09-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

“Pain is indivisible from the Human Experience.”

The predominant perception of pain throughout human history was that it was an experience to be avoided.

This is perfectly understandable considering that pain is an organism's method of communicating to itself that it is sustaining damage in some form.

Animals immediately engage the “fight or flight” response when they experience pain.

Human beings however are unique among all the species on the planet Earth.

We are unique, because we have the capacity to : suppress pain.

I believe it was Dr. Arthur Janov who introduced me to the idea that the formation of the NeoCortex in the Human Brain developed in order to permit the Human Animal to suppress pain.

Put another way : the NeoCortex was born of the need to suppress pain.

Allegorically, vertebrate animals on Earth can be divided into featuring 3 predominant, distinct brain layers :

1. The Reptilian Brain : The direct extension of the the spinal cord. The only layer of brain matter which reptiles possess.

2.The Mammalian Brain : A layer of brain matter in addition to the Reptilian Brain. Allegorically, this addition of brain matter is what makes Mammals social creatures and capable of emotions.

3.The NeoCortex : The 3^rd layer of brain matter, allegorically unique to human beings. Enables humanity to engage in its intellectual prowess, and, to suppress pain to a degree unknown by other species on the planet.

Perhaps Humanity's incredible intellectual capabilities is directly correlated with its ability to suppress pain.

The need to control pain in some fashion is certainly found in all aspects of human expression.

Perhaps it can be said that the Human Ability to delay, suppress, and muffle pain is what creates the interlude of introspective freedom necessary for the manifestation of the uniquely Human forms of expression : science and art.

Contemplation aside, one thing is certain : the human experience is the experience of pain.

From Birth until Death, the Human Experience is full of pain.

But, perhaps, it is the “perception” of pain, which Humanity needs to reconsider.

Pain for Human Beings is a somewhat different experience than that of our Animal Brethren.

As has been discussed, pain for Human Beings is a catalyst for Human Creativity and Ingenuity.

It can be perceived as a stepping stone, a booster, a catapult.

Seen in this way, pain becomes, not a thing to be feared and avoided, but a formidable and potent, yet at the same time intrinsic and inalienable, source of fuel, of : energy.

Perhaps then Humanity has arrived at the point in its evolution where it is ready to perceive Pain as not only an essential part of life, but, one not to be merely endured and desperately desired to be rid of, but as a powerful catalyst for extraordinary leaps in Human ability.

Seen this way, perhaps painful experiences are not something to be shied away from, but, instead, something to be sought.

Seeking Experiences Despite Pain

The purpose of this short essay is to encourage and explain, to others (and to myself), the reason why the potential for pain in an experience need not deter one from pursuing it, and, demonstrate, in fact, it IS a reason to pursue it.

Pain is a Wound

First though, let it be clearly stated that experiencing pain is akin to receiving a wound.

Pain causes great physical and emotional distress.

A fire in a forest does stimulate rebirth, but, it can also destroy the forest.

The time it takes to recover from pain (or a wound) can be long and arduous.

So then why seek out an experience if it will likely cause one pain?

Knowledge, Experience and Feelings

The desire to grow, the need to be more than what one was. Such is the motivation for seeking out new experiences. Seeking out those experiences in spite of the possibility of pain is capacitated by knowledge, further cemented with the certainty of the genuine experience.

Why Do We Subject Ourselves To Pain?

"Why do I put myself through this?"

"What do I hope to gain?"

Even if it's not a conscious, aware thing, we have an instinctive understanding, an almost, 6th sense certainty, that experiencing pain will cause us to grow.

So, even when an experience appears certain to cause pain, know with equal certainty that the act of doing it will plant a seed of possibility within you.

Even though the experience may be terrifying and monstrous in its apparent brutality,

know that it has sown a seed of energy within you which will, beyond the shadow of a doubt, sprout

and blossom into a strength and awareness you had heretofore not even considered.

Recovery Time

The Secret, The Epiphany of this essay is what follows :

Pain is indeed a wound, but, it's recovery and certain amplification of one's self, can be awesomely increased by being aware of this :

the reason why you subjected yourself to a painful experience was because you knew it would enhance you.

When you engage in a painful experience you are very literally splitting yourself in two : one part of you which wishes to flee, the other which seeks growth.

You are split in two, but, are still, in truth, one person, and healing requires you be whole.

You integrate your two selves when the you which seeks growth, explains to the you in pain, the experience you forced upon yourself will make you grow, and, the quicker you heal, the quicker you will be able to experience your new level of strength and awareness.

Thus integrating your two disparate halves, you heal far, far more rapidly.

Synopsis

The purpose of this essay was to demonstrate that even when an experience does indeed cause pain, it is not a cause for being paralyzed and frozen with despair and despondency, but rather an opportunity to channel the pain into great strength and energy.

“Failure is Opportunity in Disguise.”

The Immediacy of Pain

Removed. Distant. Hardly felt.

That it what current life feels like.

Pain brings an Immediacy and a Rawness to life which makes one reconnect with the Human Experience.

To conclude : there are 2 Great Changers of Human Behavior, 2 Great Levers which move Humanity, they are : pain and love.

Pain is indivisible from the Human Experience, and Pain is powerful, but, it is not the only way...

The way we choose, the way Humanity chooses, rests with us.

But, as Mike and Sulley discover :

laughter produces ten times more power than screams.

"Never a lip is curved with pain That can't be kissed into smiles again."

- Bret Harte (American Poet)