How is it out there?

I've had this thought on my mind lately, and I figured I'd blog about it-

I've been watching "What the bleep do we know", and reading more about spirituality lately, and I just think that we have it all wrong. I was a bible-thumping Christian for a minute (I even just capitalized "Christian"- old habits die hard I guess), and I think now I was just being lazy.

Lazy because it "let me off the hook", from thinking.

Of course it'd be nice to have all the answers, or better yet- let someone else have all the answers for me, but the older and wiser I get, the more I realize just how disgusting and lazy that attitude is. It just grosses me out at this point. Anyway-

My friend Matt just had a baby, and I'd been thinking about the afterlife lately. It just seems to me that when people think they have this idea about the afterlife that seems graspable- and they relate it to life now- it sounds ridiculous to me.

Could you explain to a fetus what it's going to be like when they are born?

First of all, you wouldn't be able to even communicate with a fetus.
Second, if you could, the fetus would have NO frame fo reference for being "outside",
much less understand that there is a SEPARATE (maybe we're not separate?) being "outside" this wall.... the list of impossibilities goes on and on, doesn't it?

So I think the afterlife is THAT incomprehensible to us here as THIS life is incomprehensible to a fetus.

I took a long time to say that, but that's what I think now.

How is it out there?

I've had this thought on my mind lately, and I figured I'd blog about it-

I've been watching "What the bleep do we know", and reading more about spirituality lately, and I just think that we have it all wrong. I was a bible-thumping Christian for a minute (I even just capitalized "Christian"- old habits die hard I guess), and I think now I was just being lazy.

Lazy because it "let me off the hook", from thinking.

Of course it'd be nice to have all the answers, or better yet- let someone else have all the answers for me, but the older and wiser I get, the more I realize just how disgusting and lazy that attitude is. It just grosses me out at this point. Anyway-

My friend Matt just had a baby, and I'd been thinking about the afterlife lately. It just seems to me that when people think they have this idea about the afterlife that seems graspable- and they relate it to life now- it sounds ridiculous to me.

Could you explain to a fetus what it's going to be like when they are born?

First of all, you wouldn't be able to even communicate with a fetus.
Second, if you could, the fetus would have NO frame fo reference for being "outside",
much less understand that there is a SEPARATE (maybe we're not separate?) being "outside" this wall.... the list of impossibilities goes on and on, doesn't it?

So I think the afterlife is THAT incomprehensible to us here as THIS life is incomprehensible to a fetus.

I took a long time to say that, but that's what I think now.

Who's PROGRAMMING you?

We went and saw CARS the other day- cute movie. Not as good as... well, ANY of the other pixar films, but still very cute.
Here's why I'm writing about it-

The "lack" programming that I see everywhere lately is really starting to get to me.

What I mean by that is that somewhere there's this idea that making money, getting rich, doing well, coming in first, being smart, being pretty- all of those things that make you stand out are BAD.
I think that "society" somehow enjoys it when someone who is doing well SLOWS DOWN so they can be on par with everyone else.

THAT'S EVIL.

It sets you up to ALWAYS fail, because if you just do what everyone else does, you're mediocre, and that's bad- and then if you do better- then you're evil somehow.

Pretty people are envied by ugly ones.
Rich are envied by poor
smart are envied by dumb.

That's how it is. And somewhere, someone told the masses that:

"Pretty people are shallow" (At least if you're ugly, you're probably smart)
"Rich people are greedy" (At least if you're poor, youre honest and spiritual)
"Smart people are AMBITIOUS" (At least if you're dumb, people like you)

That is ALL garbage, and the programming has to stop.

Keep an eye out for where you see this programming, and you'll suddenly see it everywhere-
and then you'll realize why everyone is scared of each other.

I say we let each other's light shine, and we'll have a MUCH brighter world.

Who's PROGRAMMING you?

We went and saw CARS the other day- cute movie. Not as good as... well, ANY of the other pixar films, but still very cute.
Here's why I'm writing about it-

The "lack" programming that I see everywhere lately is really starting to get to me.

What I mean by that is that somewhere there's this idea that making money, getting rich, doing well, coming in first, being smart, being pretty- all of those things that make you stand out are BAD.
I think that "society" somehow enjoys it when someone who is doing well SLOWS DOWN so they can be on par with everyone else.

THAT'S EVIL.

It sets you up to ALWAYS fail, because if you just do what everyone else does, you're mediocre, and that's bad- and then if you do better- then you're evil somehow.

Pretty people are envied by ugly ones.
Rich are envied by poor
smart are envied by dumb.

That's how it is. And somewhere, someone told the masses that:

"Pretty people are shallow" (At least if you're ugly, you're probably smart)
"Rich people are greedy" (At least if you're poor, youre honest and spiritual)
"Smart people are AMBITIOUS" (At least if you're dumb, people like you)

That is ALL garbage, and the programming has to stop.

Keep an eye out for where you see this programming, and you'll suddenly see it everywhere-
and then you'll realize why everyone is scared of each other.

I say we let each other's light shine, and we'll have a MUCH brighter world.

GANGSTAMERICA
(Excerpt from the book)

Yesterday, I was walking around in New York, listening to Prince's New Album "3121", thinking about how much more I liked it than the gangsta rap that's out today. I was ok with the gangsta rap back in the 80's and 90's when it was new, but now it seems as exciting as doing my taxes- and I've been putting that off all year. Then I saw a bumper-sticker:

"Annoy a Conservative: Think Hard, Do Good, Be Happy"

Oh, so witty. The "liberal, left-wing" wit. It changed what I was thinking about. I guess the liberal who had this sticker doesn't want "The Government" intruding on their choices; they wanna feed hungry people, and having that guiltless existence would mean being happy.

And it then occured to me that there very well could be a sister bumper-sticker:

"Annoy a LIBERAL: Think Hard, Do Good, Be Happy"

And I looked it up, and there was one.

No doubt the "conservative, right-wing" bumper-sticker owner doesn't want "The Government" intruding on their choices either, they wanna feed hungry people too, and their guiltless existence means also being happy.

Because really- doesn't each side think that THEY are the ones thinking? That THEY are the ones doing good and being happy?

And someone capitalized on the fact that neither side is thinking at all.

As the country gets more and more polarized, and as BOTH the left and right wings want us to be more and more so, there are people and factions that profit from all of the devisiveness.

Remember back in the 80's and 90's there was all the talk of Gang violence, and how nonsensical it all was? Officials would talk about how young black youth were killing each other over colors; that the Blue "Crips" and the Red "Bloods" were causing a self-inflicted genocide?

It was called "shameful" by the black community, "sad" by the white community, "a blight" by the government, and yet here we are, a little more than ten years later, the entire country is divided by the "Red" states and the "Blue" states.

And then there's the media, working with self-interested politicians to exacerbate the problem.

I'm not sure that the country can keep polarizing itself before we have some violent, Civil War-type of conflict. And there are always spoils to war- and they don't go to the ones doing the fighting. Niether the "Bloods" nor the "Crips" gain anything from their war- sure, a little drug selling territory, but the people who sell the drugs and guns to BOTH OF THEM gain the most.

The hatred between the Bloods and Crips, doesn't grow on it's own- it is FED by the opportunists who stand to gain the most, and the warriors are the pawns in their game.

Just like the liberals and the conservatives.

Whoever is buying those bumper-stickers, wearing the t-shirts, burning the churches, and bombing the hospitals- you're making it easy for the opportunists.

This is AMERICA- We are the envy of the world because of our freedom, but we are using it as a weapon against each other. Freedom is powerful, and without responsibility to govern it, it is chaos. And that is exactly what the opportunists want you to do.

We are ALL supposed to think hard, do good and be happy- and when we ARE all doing that, we'll remember that we are NOT "Red or Blue", "Liberal or Conservative", "Black or White", but instead we'll know WHO we are, WHAT we are, and WHY we are- AMERICA.

GANGSTAMERICA
(Excerpt from the book)

Yesterday, I was walking around in New York, listening to Prince's New Album "3121", thinking about how much more I liked it than the gangsta rap that's out today. I was ok with the gangsta rap back in the 80's and 90's when it was new, but now it seems as exciting as doing my taxes- and I've been putting that off all year. Then I saw a bumper-sticker:

"Annoy a Conservative: Think Hard, Do Good, Be Happy"

Oh, so witty. The "liberal, left-wing" wit. It changed what I was thinking about. I guess the liberal who had this sticker doesn't want "The Government" intruding on their choices; they wanna feed hungry people, and having that guiltless existence would mean being happy.

And it then occured to me that there very well could be a sister bumper-sticker:

"Annoy a LIBERAL: Think Hard, Do Good, Be Happy"

And I looked it up, and there was one.

No doubt the "conservative, right-wing" bumper-sticker owner doesn't want "The Government" intruding on their choices either, they wanna feed hungry people too, and their guiltless existence means also being happy.

Because really- doesn't each side think that THEY are the ones thinking? That THEY are the ones doing good and being happy?

And someone capitalized on the fact that neither side is thinking at all.

As the country gets more and more polarized, and as BOTH the left and right wings want us to be more and more so, there are people and factions that profit from all of the devisiveness.

Remember back in the 80's and 90's there was all the talk of Gang violence, and how nonsensical it all was? Officials would talk about how young black youth were killing each other over colors; that the Blue "Crips" and the Red "Bloods" were causing a self-inflicted genocide?

It was called "shameful" by the black community, "sad" by the white community, "a blight" by the government, and yet here we are, a little more than ten years later, the entire country is divided by the "Red" states and the "Blue" states.

And then there's the media, working with self-interested politicians to exacerbate the problem.

I'm not sure that the country can keep polarizing itself before we have some violent, Civil War-type of conflict. And there are always spoils to war- and they don't go to the ones doing the fighting. Niether the "Bloods" nor the "Crips" gain anything from their war- sure, a little drug selling territory, but the people who sell the drugs and guns to BOTH OF THEM gain the most.

The hatred between the Bloods and Crips, doesn't grow on it's own- it is FED by the opportunists who stand to gain the most, and the warriors are the pawns in their game.

Just like the liberals and the conservatives.

Whoever is buying those bumper-stickers, wearing the t-shirts, burning the churches, and bombing the hospitals- you're making it easy for the opportunists.

This is AMERICA- We are the envy of the world because of our freedom, but we are using it as a weapon against each other. Freedom is powerful, and without responsibility to govern it, it is chaos. And that is exactly what the opportunists want you to do.

We are ALL supposed to think hard, do good and be happy- and when we ARE all doing that, we'll remember that we are NOT "Red or Blue", "Liberal or Conservative", "Black or White", but instead we'll know WHO we are, WHAT we are, and WHY we are- AMERICA.

I didn't write yesterday, but I'm making up for it now-
We went out with Leah and Angie last night, who both work at the Pancreatic Cancer research center, a non-profit about awareness. Angie said that there;s some crazy woman who wants to WALK from LA to Winnipeg because her father is dying of Pan Can.

Ok, so she's nuts- however, they Pan Can research center decided that there was no opportunity here for fundraising! Ok, so the walk is a bad idea, but the STORY is a good one! I say they fly her out there, and tell the whole story, get the airline to fly her free, make a site for people to have support and tell each other's stories, and GET FUNDS!!

She said they passed on the whole thing. That's what happens when people have jobs that ask them to NOT be creative. I guess I'll have to start that non-profit one day.