time for another rant followed by a renewed withdraw from the social media dis(gusting)course that is happening in this time. I will be refraining from commenting on posts other than on my own wall. I have reached my saturation point of the blatant hypocrisy that is racing through our society. Gone is the world of compromise, or even civil discourse. Gone is any form of fact checking or consideration of the source. Gone is the understanding that what is wrong for you is wrong for me. Gone is the acceptance that no one is always right but everyone is wrong at some time. Gone is the understanding that equal, even if the belief systems and values are at odds with our own.
We let individuals lead us that have no value or ability to lead. We accept the lies, fears, and hates they feed us as though they are manna from the heavens. We refuse to accept that others have the same rights as we do, simply because someone else tells us that these are the ones we need to fear and even hate. We promote difference as evidence of evil. We accept only that which supports or own beliefs, even if those are not the ones we grew up believing, but were the ones we consumed because they made us feel better about ourselves. We welcome any that share our prejudices, even if that prejudice flies in the very face of everything we profess to believe. (read the words radical christian, radical muslim, radical jewish hypocrisy in this place interchangeably as you see fit) 
Putting your faith as a reason to despise the words or actions of another is one thing, using it as a reason to despise the person is another. Hate for another person is wrong. Hate for another race, religion, gender, political affiliation, social stance, is wrong. Disagree all you wish, but hate is the very heart of evil. From hate comes nothing of worth or value, to yourself, others, or the world.
I am witnessing the lack of common understanding in our culture. There has become an acceptance under this administration that it is now acceptable to express hate and loathing once again. Sadly, it is not only one group that shares the guilt and blame for the explosive increase of public acceptance. 
I find two passages from the christian bible fit the point rather well here: Ecclesiastes 7:20- Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. and Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and yet we, as individuals and as a society, spend a great deal of our time and energy intentionally seeking the fault in others simply for being different from ourselves... and often in the name of our 'religion'. If you honestly believe that this is the way your god(s) want you to worship them and spread the faith, you are a special kind of stupid. That type of ignorance is causing the opposite effect. People are leaving churches in droves.. however, and this should frighten everyone, they still claim to belong to their faiths but no longer feel the need to stand by those pesky details that mean they cannot hold on to the sins they enjoy so much. This is further hypocrisy in case you missed it. 
This is the time where we all need to look past these situations and seek to discover the why and how of this happening, but even more so, the who is behind it and what is their objective? It is clearly not the betterment of the world and the people riding on this roller coaster.
I am now going to withdraw and contemplate these things, to seek personal enlightenment and understanding, to avoid becoming a part of the problem, and to work on removing my personal hates, prejudices, fears, and negativities. I deserve to find my happiness and this social media experience cannot provide that for me.
May you find that which makes you whole.
DML

Renewing the adventure

The only way to cure ignorance, is through education. Now for those of you, and we all know who you are, get your knickers in a bunch which blocks off your ability to think further, education does not only mean school. Everyone who has a negative comment about education, learned it somewhere. This is perhaps the greatest irony of it all: much of the most profound ignorance in our society today is learned. The next time you begin to bash education stop and ask yourself where did you learn that, who taught you these things, and if it truly makes you happy to belittle education, complain about teachers, and call education meaningless, then don't forget to thank those that taught you these things, as disreputable is they may be.

Sunday Mornings are ....

Why do I feel I am not good enough to be a part of Society?

All my life I have battled the feeling inside that I am not as good as those around me. I lack certain key parts that would make me equals to others. I have believed myself to be from the Isle of Misfit Toys. I must be broken. There is clearly a reason for me to be standing outside looking in.

I finally gave up the struggle of understanding why and simply accepted that I would likely either never understand or feel even more defective if I should learn. Instead I determined to understand HOW it has impacted me and look closer at the validity of these feelings. (No, what others tell me about my not being inferior has never done much to support me, but tends to make me doubt their intentions for doing so)

The moment of profundity came, as it so often does, in the soothing quiet of a Sunday morning.

I am only inferior to others in my own mind. I am unworthy in my own judgement and I have allowed that to shape my interactions. I have never been financially wealthy, and from what I see with so many who are, I never really want to be. My wealth lies within. I have all that I need and more. I am worthy of respect, which some see and others do not. Those that don't are not worthy of mine and I need to remember that.

The world around me has determined what constitutes value and for the most part, I think they are dead wrong. What needs to be the most important goal in our life is to make certain the next generation has a better place to live and grow than we did. To ensure they know the value of being alive: in tune enough to understand right from wrong, smart enough to figure out how to fix what is broken, strong enough to defend what is right, compassionate enough to care for others - yes, even those that disagree with them.
Until we as a species can cast aside the false claims that rich = the ultimate goal, we cannot put aside those layers of inferiority that plague so many in our world.

In conclusion, the lessons I learned about myself this morning is simple:
I am not inferior to any save my own self. I am limited only by those limits I have established. I am not servant to the cult of power, and the high priests of greed. There is more value in me than all the illusions of Wall Street can ever deliver.

feel the rain

into every life some rain must fall. some choose umbrellas to shield themselves and complain about ruining their hair or tie. others dodge from shelter to shelter trying to limit the contact. but those that truly are alive and living in the real world, the one where people matter more than money, take off their shoes and dance in it. rain is more than just a metaphor, it is a full philosophical approach to living. leave the bumbershoots in the stand, take another's hand, and lift your face to the rain. celebrate it and rejoice that you are alive.

a first look at happiness

The most often asked questions I have heard through my decades to date deal with one of the great paradoxes of all time; Happiness. A word so simple and yet complex enough to cause most of us to stumble when asked to define it. There are two distinct questions that come up; are you happy and what is happiness. 

Clearly they are not the same question. Are you happy is a simple and direct yes or no request. It can be answered with relative ease. It only becomes complicated when the second question becomes involved. If you don't bother to define happiness before you answer then the simple response is sufficient. BUT, and this is an important one, as soon as you start to define the essence of what happiness is, you step far outside the confines of the simple yes or no.

So what is Happiness?

To each one of us, there is a different answer. The only real wisdom I have on this vast question is this: happiness can only exist if it is fluid and able to ride the tides of change.

I remember the first time I told some one that. They looked at me as though I had suddenly grown three more heads. I never thought it was that abstract a thought personally. Your life is constantly changing. Every second you are alive, the world around you is new, though it may seem the same, it never will be. If everything else changes constantly, then so to would happiness or it would become stagnant and lose its value. What comes from happiness when it stagnates? Complacency. 

I am not going to start casting judgements on any. If complacent is satisfactory for you then by all means enjoy it. Do not try to tell me, however, that you are happy. 

The secret to understanding happiness and its ever changing state comes from accepting that it will never be exactly the same. While it may be true that some things make you feel happy all the time (like a bowl of ice cream perhaps!) there will be times when you simply don't want any. To say then, that ice cream makes you happy all the time, would be untrue. The same is true for anything material, and most other types of things too, as far as I have noticed. Now I know that there are plenty of people that disagree with this concept, and hey, they are entitled to be wrong. (just kidding! everyone should have their own opinions and defend their right to them, but that will be for another time)

Only you can define and find the key to your happiness. That is the lesson I learned along the way. Any one that tells you they know the secret of happiness for your life is trying to sell you something. Once you find it for yourself, your life will be forever changed but the path to that enlightenment can be a hard one. 

Happiness follows one of the great principles I have learned: 

"The Harder You Look for Something, The Harder IT Will be to Find"

And so begins another

This would be a good place to put a disclaimer, but I do not think I will put one here. After all, these entries are the thoughts from my mind and therefore do not require any prelude to explain or defend them. I am who I am and it is not likely that a few words will alter how anyone reacts to my thoughts.

People will be offended if they want to be, regardless of what is offered as a form of explanation or excusing reason.  So if you are offended by anything I write in this blog, stop reading. This is one of the most important lessons I have learned in my life.

Somewhere in the recent past (or at least recent to those of us that read about things over 500 years old regularly), there was  shift in the popular mindset (hereafter referred to as the Cosmic Dumb-ass) toward padding the gloves and glossing over the truth, lest someone have their fragile feelings hurt. 

This does not work, by the way. No matter how delicately you tell someone that they have their head up some dark cavity, there will always be those that are offended. At some point there needs to be a realistic fulcrum setting a balance. I do not feel that my rights are any more nor less important than anyone else. It is with that in mind that I say what I say in my own place and time. If someone is offended, I am sorry for them, not for what I say. It is not me that has the problem as long as I am not violating any laws.

So what can you expect to find in the posts that will be coming? That is a very good question. I guess we will find out as the blog grows. Until then, thanks for the visit and have a day that turns out the way you make it.