Take a Deep Breath

Today’s post revolves around a subject I’ve been thinking about since early 2017, when I noticed much of the population separating into pro-Trump or anti-Trump factions that were becoming increasingly tribal, vitriolic and hostile. I wrote about it in the piece, Lost in the Political Wilderness, and things haven’t improved much since. Fortunately, around the same time I came across the theory of Spiral Dynamics which provided me with a useful framework through which to understand consciousness and the importance of guarding your mind and emotional state in a world that encourages fear, tribalism and anger.

Though we live in a time where more diverse information is available at our fingertips than at any other period in human history, we’re still presented with news and narratives via specific channels; whether that be an alternative media figure, a mass media outlet or a tech giant algorithm. The news and commentary that somehow gets in front of us on a daily basis shapes our view of the world just as it always has, and this in turn triggers certain emotions – joy, sadness, anger, fear, inspiration, etc. There’s space for all that in a human life, but the ones I’m most interested in for the purposes of this piece are fear and anger.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

The Emerging ‘Global Brain’

There’s been heightened chatter as of late, particularly in the Twittersphere, around the idea humanity might be undergoing a consciousness expansion. This concept seems to be going mainstream, which could be a great thing provided it doesn’t get turned into a cliché or marketing gimmick.

This notion of a human consciousness shift that could emerge and alter the paradigm on planet earth in unimaginably positive ways was something I became obsessed with last year. My interest was sparked by the infantile and deranged political environment which swept across the U.S. in early 2017, and was solidified by an encounter with the concept of Spiral Dynamics generally, and the work of Ken Wilber specifically. I ended up writing a five-part series on the topic, which I’d like to revisit before moving on.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Four Pillars for a Better Future: Knowledge, Consciousness, Innovation, Local Action – Part 3

There’s a reason education sucks, and it’s the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It’s never going to get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got… because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now… the real owners. The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions.

Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls. They got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying. Lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. 

– George Carlin on The American Dream

Part 2 of this series dived into the importance of technology and innovation to the evolution of the human species. Indeed, innovation is one of the most important pieces to the puzzle, with the caveat that such advancements must be rooted in higher consciousness. An unconscious people will create and embrace technology that will enslave, while a conscious and thoughtful people will manifest innovation that can propel humans forward toward a vastly superior paradigm. Consciousness + innovation are the two most crucial variables when it comes to realizing our higher potential in the decades and centuries to come.

That said, not everyone has the capacity or desire to work on the next groundbreaking technology. That’s perfectly fine. What we all possess is the capacity to become more conscious,thoughtful and loving, and it’s from this foundation that every individual can contribute to the creation of a better world. Whether you’re a lawyer, a banker, a painter or a chef, the most important thing you can do is ensure your work stems from a higher state of consciousness.

An unfortunate aspect of life here on earth is we often neglect the power we have as individuals to affect the world around us. We overlook the fact we’re presented with various opportunities on a daily basis to do some good via small interactions with others and the environment. Don’t discount the importance of all the little things you do every day simply because you aren’t in a corporate suite making billion dollar decisions, or voting on legislation in Congress. You have tremendous power to influence the world around you each and every day. Don’t let the seemingly little, but consequential, daily opportunities pass you by unconsciously. Everything we do matters.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Four Pillars for a Better Future: Knowledge, Consciousness, Innovation, Local Action – Part 1

For many years now, my message has been that tweaking around the edges of a systemically corrupt and discredited economic and political system is not good enough. Rather, what we need is a full scale, species-wide paradigm shift in the way human affairs are conducted on this planet. No small task I know, which is why this series of posts will zero in on four key areas, or pillars, we need to focus on if we’re to evolve and leave this earth meaningfully better than when we arrived.

Knowledge

Let’s kick things off with the low-hanging fruit, knowledge. This is the area I’ve focused on the longest, and my desire to acquire knowledge and share it is what inspired the creation of this website and my dedication to it in the first place.

In this case, the knowledge I’ve been accumulating relates to how the world around us actually functions, as opposed to how we’re told it functions. Some people inform us we live in a Democracy where our vote matters, but overwhelming evidence and life experience demonstrates this to be total nonsense. Others tell us we reside in a Republic where the U.S. Constitution is the supreme inviolable law of the land, but that’s also a lie. In real life, the Constitution is completely ignored by politicians, and most certainly by the unaccountable and unelected shadowy intelligence agencies. Finally, there are those who insist we live in a free market system characterized by countless choices and vibrant competition, but this is rapidly becoming a fantasy to anyone who actually engages in the economy.

The glaring truth of the matter is the U.S. is managed by a unified corporate and political oligarchy that agrees and collaborates on all issues of importance to them irrespective of the meaningless and dishonest Republican or Democratic flags they fly in public.

There are several issues this crowd will fight to the death to preserve no matter what the public thinks. Here are a few:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Welcome to 2018 – We Are All Connected

To see a world in a grain of sand
And to see heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.

A dove-house fill’d with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro’ all its regions.
A dog starv’d at his master’s gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.

– William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Over the course of 2017, I spent a lot of time detailing where we stand as a species and where I think we’re going. To summarize, I think the positive impact of the internet and social media on humanity is still very much in its infancy. The more connected we become to one another across the planet, the more we’ll realize we have far more in common with one another than we do with the sociopathic oligarchs and politicians in charge of our respective nation-states.

Much of the 20th century was defined by unimaginable human conflict and terror, unleashed upon the public by crazed elites and rulers who were able to successfully manipulate large populations. The key to preventing a repeat of this sort of thing in the 21st century is billions of human beings across the planet communicating and sharing friendship with one another to the point we can no longer be tricked in killing each other. We need to learn to see “the other” in ourselves and voluntarily collaborate with our fellow humans on the challenges that face us in order to bring our species to the next level. This isn’t just a pipe-dream or insane utopian ramblings, I think it’s entirely possible.

That said, the road could be long and some real disasters may lie ahead before we finally get our footing as a species. As far as I see it, there are several factors still preventing us from getting from point A to B. For one thing, leaders of nation-states throughout the world are almost always some of the worst individuals society has to offer. The types of people who aspire to, and generally attain political power, tend to be the most unconscious, power hungry, sociopathic characters around. That’s just how this stuff works.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Americans are Rapidly Descending Into Madness

I don’t live in an echo chamber, partly because there aren’t enough people out there who think like me, but also because I constantly and intentionally attempt to challenge my worldview by reading stuff from all over the political map. I ingest as much as I can from a wide variety of intelligent sources, picking and choosing what makes sense to me, and then synthesizing it the best I can.

Though I’m certainly grounded in certain key principles, my perspective on specific issues remains malleable as I take in additional information and perspectives. I try to accept and acknowledge my own ignorance and view life as a journey of constant mental, emotionally and spiritual growth. If I’m not growing my capacity in all of those realms until the day I die, I’m doing it wrong. Life should be seen as a battle against one’s own ignorance, as opposed to an obsession with the ignorance of others. You can’t legislate morality, nor can you legislate wisdom. The only way the world will improve on a long-term sustainable basis is if more of us get wise. That’s a personal journey and it’s our individual duty to accept it.

While I’m only in control of my own behavior, this doesn’t mean that the behavior of others is irrelevant to my life. Unfortunately, what I see happening to the population of America right now seems very troublesome and foreboding. What I’m witnessing across the board is hordes of people increasingly separating themselves into weird, unthinking cults. Something appears to have snapped in our collective consciousness, and many individuals I used to respect (on both sides of the political spectrum) are becoming disturbingly polarized and hysterical. People are rapidly morphing into radicalized mental patients.

What’s worse, this environment is providing a backdrop for the most destructive people of my lifetime — neoconservatives and neo liberals — to preen around on corporate media as “the voices of reason.” This is one of the most perverse and dangerous side-effects of the current political climate. As I noted earlier today on Twitter:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.