Life lessons

First, it is imperative to note that life in this world would not exist, if there wasn't an abiding purpose behind it.  So then, part of the mystery of life is to discover what life's purpose is, or more specifically, each person's personal life purpose; of which, those that are paying the most attention, recognize that clearly there are things to be learned in this world, typically through the lessons so being taught by those of true knowledge and wisdom, as well as through life experiences, and through one's perspicuity, of which through the comprehension that each individual thereby picks up or absorbs, we each begin to formulate into our minds, our purpose for being here.

So then, the ups and downs of our lives, and the joys and disappointments that each one of us so experiences, dramatic or not, are part and parcel of life's experiences, of which without these experiences, life itself, would be dull, and bordering on being essentially meaningless.  This thus signifies that the lessons that we come across and deal with, are to a very large degree, the very testing of who and what we really are, and thereby the character that we so represent, fairly reflects our success or lack thereof of our competent resolving of those adventures and misadventures that we have encountered.

Further to the point, the lessons that we take to heart, are never without purpose, but always have an abiding purpose behind them, for it is by these lessons that we thereby are able to make the conscious decision, not just for ourselves, but for the benefit of others, to apply the good that we know and have learned, to be of service to our fellow sojourners in this earthly incarnation, for none of us is an island, for we all are of the same substance, and thereby we all are in this very thing together, and thereby by aiding and abetting one another, we together are able to get closer to that which we so ardently desire to be close to.

The very qualities that help to make and to bring out the best of mankind, such as truth, integrity, justice, fairness, patience, consideration, and empathy, are the same attributes that make up our God, of which, it is our expressed duty to demonstrate in action, that these aren't just of the abstract, but that they clearly have made and continue to make a material and spiritual difference in the outcome of our lives as well as for others, now and into the future, of which those that are the best of pupils, have learned and thereby have applied these characteristics through their interactions day-by-day, thereby proving that they are of that good substance, through their chosen deeds and activities.

Each of us is here for a purpose, of which some of us, explicitly understand and know that purpose; whereas others through that still small voice that is innate to them implicitly know such, as well.  The object of the exercise, therefore, is as about as straightforward as any could ever be, which is to do what is good and right, as often as we can, and for as many other people that we can, for we are ultimately co-creators with our God of this world, and as co-creators we must be functionally true to that which is Truth, itself.

Rule of law and the Mafia

One would think that the Mafia, or organized crime, in general, could not conceivably exist in America, because this is a country that claims to have a robust rule of law, of which by that law, all parties and entities are subject to those laws, without favoritism, and so thereby equally applied.  This would thus signified that the Mafia, could not exist, because by those laws, and by the material fact that the United States seems to have an overabundance of prosecutors and prisons, and does not seemingly hesitate to incarcerate whomever they so desire to imprison, all of this combined would seem to make it improbable for any crime family or families to exist, in perpetuity.  Yet, the Mafia is certainly not an urban myth, and it exists right now, and has been in existence and of power, for a considerable period of time, of which, the obvious conclusion would seem to be that whatever rule of law that so exists in this country, that this is clearly unequally applied and is equally ineffective or, at best, that the law in America as exercised is purposely selective in its enforcement against organized crime.

The fact of the matter is, that all sorts of illicit activity takes place in America, such as illicit drug sales, both of pharmaceuticals as well as recreational drugs,  stolen goods of all types, smuggling of various goods and even of people, prostitution, gambling, and fraud of all types.  There probably isn't a limit to what activities are susceptible to organized crime, especially in consideration, that because of the great wealth of America, and the creativity of those that wish to operate outside the law, that such is limited only by the imagination of the perpetrators.   The fact that all of this organized crime exists and persists, clearly signifies that the powers-to-be are either explicitly or implicitly involved with organized crime, as beneficiaries to it.

So then, the Mafia exists, because those that have the power to do something about it, are compromised or are participants with the Mafia, because there is no way that the Mafia would exist in America without the active assistance of those that have the power to terminate it, by utilizing their power to do exactly that.  It so follows, that the fact that the Mafia exists and persists is indicative that equal justice in America does not actually exist, but rather a meaningful percentage of the justice system as well as the policing arm of the state are part and parcel of the problem and not of the solution to the Mafia being put out of business.

Pretty much all of the above really says, that in this material country, those that have money, influence, power, and intimidation in their arsenal but are not part of the admitted orthodoxy in America are still able to ply their trade, because the people and principalities that they need to have on their side, are on their side, more times than not; which reflects what the people of this country pretty much already know, that in America, everything is for sale, legal or not, and as much as America prides itself on having a vibrant rule of law, it really does not, because if it did, the Mafia would not exist, and until organized crime and its ilk, are eradicated, it won't.

To better understand what is being "born again"

We read in Holy Scripture, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’" (John 3: 6-7) While there are all sorts of interpretations of what this means to be born anew or born again, for a certainty, as it was explained in additional Holy Scripture passages, we cannot be born again in a literal sense, via our current mother's womb, but rather we will always be truly born again when our consciousness wakes up from its delusion that it is ever actually separated from God and realizes instead that all that God ever creates, is good and thereby anything that appears to be what it is not in essence, is a deceit upon our mind.  In other words, we are created by our God as perfect beings, and that perfection never leaves us; though, if we so choose, we can allow the duality of good and evil, or light and darkness to enter into our consciousness, by disassociating ourselves, at least on a conscious level or through the suppressing of such, from that which is perfection, itself, and hence thereby fall into a world in which we are in need of being born anew.

Remember this well, we are created as perfect beings, for God has no need and has not the attributes to create that which is imperfect for that would be an error and God is inerrant.  So then, the imperfections that we exhibit in the here and now are based upon our inability to utilize our "free will" in a manner in which we are, at all times, in conformance with that which is immutable and flawless.  So then, as fallen human beings, it is up to each one of us, to rediscover the straight and narrow pathway that will take us back to that which is our very purpose for having being created, and therefore, we must discard the old wineskins of deceit and error, and replaced such with that which is instead, honest and perfect, by rebirthing ourselves into being fully cognizant that we are the legitimate offspring of an omniscient God.

The world that we live in, is clearly not a perfect world, of which, the reason for this being the case, is that the people that populate it and thereby make decisions upon it, are far too often, not in synchrony or in harmony with that which is the actuator of this planet, and thereby the result is the trouble that is displayed upon it, day-by-day.  The answer to this dilemma, cannot be more free will misapplied, or more selfishness and more greed personified, but rather the conscious recognition that each of us are in this world together, with the very same mission, which is to comprehend fully the recognition that when graced by our God with the liberty to do whatsoever that we so desire to do, that we, at some point, in the near term or not, must finally come to the conscious recognition that the only solution to what so troubles us, and the people that surround us, is to freely return to that which is omnipresent, and thereby free ourselves from the delusion that we are ever forsaken or forgotten, but rather that we are forever one with our Supreme God and be true to only that.

Corporations get ever richer, but Americans on average, do not

The stock market seemingly hits highs or closes at near new highs, day-by-day, and corporate executives, have never been compensated at such incredibly high levels, as we so see, today, through the gifting of stock options, bonuses, benefits, and the like,.  Additionally, corporate profits for the biggest and brightest of these mega corporations continue to be quite robust, and many of the largest of these multinational corporations have also done a tremendous job of increasing their market share at the expense of lesser players, thereby becoming even more of a global economic force.  One would think that with all this growth in a given company's market share and their corresponding profits that the employees of these multinationals would be receiving at least at a minimum, some sort of "trickle down" effect, but if so, it seems to really be a mere trickle.

Further, in order for domestic citizens to benefit directly from the great profits made by these multinationals, they have to be, employees of these multinationals, of which, we read as reported by bea.gov, that the employment abroad by majority-owned foreign affiliates of United States multinational enterprises for 2018 was 14.4 million workers.  That is to say, for whatever reasons, wrong or right, 14.4 million jobs that could, in theory, be accomplished by domestic workers, were instead outsourced to foreign workers, at the direct expense of those domestic workers, and of which, the main beneficiaries of this outsourcing, was clearly those that are in the highest offices of those multinational corporations, and therefore to their monetary benefit.

The losers of all this outsourcing is both the government of this country as well as the specific people so impacted by their reduction of employment opportunity, that thereby meant the lost of a good paying job, or having to be forced to take on work at a lower rate with correspondingly lower benefits; of which, therefore the government of this country thereby was placed into the position of the need to expend money as well as to provide resources to step in and to become a safety net for those citizens, which thereby served to reduce the self-sufficiency of those citizens, all because of this outsourcing of viable work, to foreign workers.

That is to say, multinational corporations seem primarily to be about accomplishing their goals of increasing market share and profitability by whatever means that are best to do so, and care little or nothing about their duty or obligation to take care of their own people, first, or to see them as any sort of corporate responsibility or priority.  This government, also, seems to have not the stomach to deal forthrightly with these multinationals and either gives them what they so desire, or permits such, or countenances such, for whatever reasons, under the mistaken belief that what is good for multinationals must be good for this country, in whole.

The bottom line is that the cost of doing business in this country in many endeavors is going to be more expensive than the cost to do so is in a lot of emerging foreign lands, because we have a vibrant rule of law, environment regulations, labor laws, and the like; of which, if multinationals are provided with carte blanche to do business wherever globally that the business environment is perceived to be cheaper, then the end result is that the few and powerful of America will get ever richer and stronger, whereas the middle class of America will get ever poorer and weaker.

The book of Genesis

Obviously, Genesis and thereby the creation of this world, should not be taken to be believed in a literal sense, and it's unfair by those that are anti-Biblical to try to pin the credulous into doubting the creation story or to treat such as some sort of ancient myth.  In fact, Genesis, though not literal, (for how is it that mankind could possibly conceive in its own mind the entire grandeur of God's omniscience?) is a fair and true representation of the symbolic creation of this world, of which God is the sole creator of such and we are the created offspring of God, provided with the means on this planet to be co-creators with God, of which thereby each of us has a sacred responsibility to be good stewards of this good earth.

That is to say, the very purpose of the creation of this world, was for those that were created by the hand of God, to voluntarily go forth, and thereby to participate as well as to appreciate that all that God had created was good; and for us therefore, to take that which was created, beginning with the garden of Eden, and to make of it, something of lasting value.   It is well to remember, that everything that God so creates, is good, and that this earth was specifically made so that those that were created in God's image, would be able to demonstrate in action, their goodness upon this earth.

This earth represents an opportunity for those that were created by God and provided with the corresponding free will so gifted by God, to decide amongst each other, what they wish to do and to accomplish, to thereby prove upon this testing ground that they are the worthy children of their Creator God.  That is not to say, that God forsakes us for any willful disobedience, but rather that all decisions so made that are not in keeping with fairness, justice, love, and goodness, serves to separate ourselves from that which is the epitome of those attributes, and thereby leaves us to reap what we have so foolishly sown.

Yet, God in His infinite wisdom, provides at all times, that straight and narrow pathway, that will bring us back into harmony of that which was created in the first place, for God wishes only for that which is best for us, of which, that which is best, is that which is good.  Therefore, the creation story of this good earth is as relevant today as it was back then, for the principle and the purpose of such has not changed whatsoever.  This earth represents and still represents mankind's opportunity to do right by that which is always right, and to utilize therefore our mind and spirit to bring into being to this world: harmony, love, and peace, through our conscious and unrelenting effort to do exactly that, by forgoing that which is selfish and wrong, and replacing such with that which trumps it, which is the desire in action to love God with all of our collective hearts, and to treat our fellow sojourners as if they are one and the same as we are, because, in essence, they are.

Reformation of that which involves two parties, necessitates both parties to it

There was a time such as in Ireland, in which, some of those that were pregnant but unmarried, were sent to Catholic reform institutions of which the ostensible purpose of such was to provide a sanctuary of sorts, for the protection and of the benefit for the mother as well as for her child; in addition to providing a format for these unwed mothers to learn a trade.  Regrettably, this is not how things worked out, whatsoever; of which there were all sorts of missteps, abuses, and just plain very bad acts and bad actions that occurred against these unmarried women, as well as some of the children so born, and subsequently some children died from the lack of proper care or neglect by those institutions.  Yet, there probably wasn't going to be a good and fair outcome in this program, anyhow; when the burden of the guilt so directed against these ladies, seemingly addressed them alone, for their sinfulness and wickedness, without addressing wholeheartedly the fact that the male party to such, apparently always got off scot-free.

After all, it takes two to create a pregnancy of which one party carries the proof of such, whereas the other partly, does not; but the man is just as responsible for that pregnancy, as the woman so involved, if not in some cases, more so.  Further to the point, reformation cannot ever be complete, if only half of the parties are required to own up to it, whereas the other half, seemingly are permitted to be about their business, without ever subsequently being held accountable.  So that, one person pays dearly for that which has been done, whereas, the other person pays nothing at all.  So too, when perpetrators and instigators are permitted to continue to ply their trade, without consequences, then there are going to be a continual supply of young woman that are going to be in that same impregnated predicament, because the conditions that create such, have not been consciously addressed; as well as the fact that the supposed solution to the problem, effectively only places out of sight what is occurring, without a fair resolution to such.

Obviously, it must have been a man's world, back then, for it was solely the woman that was made to pay the price for their alleged illicit interaction with a man.  Disappointingly, this error was compounded when those respected institutions were thereby allowed to effectively take control of a sovereign individual and even their offspring in which the general credulous public believed that some sort of reform was occurring behind the scenes for the benefit of those individuals as well as for society in general; when, in fact, to a great extent, this was seen as an opportunity by those respected institutions to dominate these women, as well as their children, and to thereby exploit, abuse, and to take advantage of them.

So then, for any sort of fair justice to occur in any meaningful way, this always necessitates a reasonably thorough exploration of what the given circumstances so represent, of which, to have just one party answer for the "crime", whereas the other party is left alone, cannot ever be justice or morally right, and therefore there can never be a fair resolution or true reformation to such, until those relevant issues have instead been fully acknowledged and dealt with, forthrightly.

To be whole or not

In the scheme of things, each of us should really want to be a complete person, and in order to accomplish that, we are each required to get up and to actually get done through our own efforts, the salient tasks that demonstrate in principle that we have mastered that which needs to be mastered.  For instance, if in our lives, we are overly dependent upon other people for this or that, there has got to come that time, when we step up and prove that we are able to do successfully those very things previously done by others, by our own concerted efforts.  So too, in virtually every task of import, the objective is not about taking shortcuts, or avoiding that which must be faced; but actually proving ourselves worthy by accomplishing something of notable merit, and thereby fairly earning that prize.

As much as some of us may shy away from the limelight or of responsibility, each of us ultimately has to stand up and be counted for who and what we really are, and those that have not completed all of their tasks, are not qualified to be good members in full standing, because to accept such that have not accomplished such, thereby cheapens that which cannot ever be cheapened.  Therefore, as much as we might desire to run and hide, or to try to find those angles that will allow us to somehow get that passing score, the proof of the process is going to have to be done, step-by-step, day-by-day, with integrity; and ultimately through the successful accomplishment of that which we have personally taken responsibility for and thereby have rightly earned.

Indeed, there are no substitutes for each of us running our own race, and that race cannot be successfully finished until we are able to honestly check off, each item, on that master list, without exception, for we cannot ourselves becomes esteemed mentors, while we are still lacking those tools that need to have been mastered successfully in order to fairly apply our craft and thereby to be of valued assistance to those others, that need our guidance; for wholeness requires not just that we be whole, but that all others, that follow us, also become whole.

In other words, each of us most evolve ourselves so as to reach our own individual wholeness, of which, to paint the biggest of pictures, all of us ultimately need to be whole, in order for the canvas to be successfully completed; for every person has their own piece and place in such, or else the panorama remains incomplete and unfinished.  Therefore, we have a sacred obligation to become that which we were always neat to be, complete, battle tested, and eternal prepared, for the story that we are all a part of, is never ending, with each of us having our own vital and necessary part to play in the process of becoming that complete whole.

As much as some people wish that things were always easy or that everything always went their way, that is really the wrong perspective, because life is actually about having the opportunity to grow our way back to wholeness, and to achieve that of which we were meant to achieve, so as to thereby fairly earn our wings, so that we can thereby rise up as one and truly see.

Which should you more properly fear -- a terrorist or the police?

This government spends an incredible amount of money defending its homeland from terrorists that are bent on killing American civilians, of which we are sold the terrifying story that there could be a terrorist attack upon us, at any given moment, and on any given day.  Yet, the actual statistics about how many Americans are killed by terrorists, let alone, Islamic terrorists, each year, paints an entirely different picture.  For instance, in the years 2010-2019, it is estimated that about 216 Americans died from terrorist attacks in America, or about 22 people per year; of which the deadliest killings during that decade were the Orlando nightclub massacre as well as the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay massacre, in which the perpetrators of such were both native born American citizens.

On the other hand, on a yearly basis, and as reported by the washingtonpost.com,  in reference to the years, 2015-2018, "… in each of the past four years police nationwide have shot and killed almost the same number of people - nearly 1,000."  To get a better perspective of just how many people that are killed by police officers in America as compared to other western nations, we find that in 2019, the United States police killed 1099 people, whereas German police killed just 11, and England police only killed 3.  The fact that these numbers in comparison to the United States seem astonishingly low, even well-nigh civilized, should be seen as an absolutely horrifying indictment upon the lethal violence so perpetrated by our domestic police upon its own, and demonstrates in principle the incredible chasm between how insanely violent our country is via its policing policies, as compared to other western nations, having similar demographics.

The bottom line is that clearly citizens of this nation, need to be far more concerned  and thereby fearful about their own police, who are ironically sworn to protect and to serve the people, then those that profess an abiding hatred towards America and what it so represents.  What makes the police violence against their own citizens, even more frightening, is that there really isn't any way that a citizen can prepare or protect themselves from being killed in cold blood by the police; for the police in this country are permitted to essentially utilized their lethal weapons at will, with typically no negative repercussions, along with the salient fact that police officers have been permitted and continue to be permitted to exercise "no-knock"  warrants, under the most dubious of circumstances; along with police officers also being sanctioned to stop and frisk anyone that they so desire, as well as being authorized, directly or indirectly, to shoot to kill, defenseless civilians.

The narrative that the police want to sell, as well as by those that support and actuate their actions, is that America and its citizens are extremely violent, and in order to take down these dangerous and well armed civilians, the police must be permitted to shoot first and often, for without such authorization, America would soon devolve into utter chaos, rioting, and wholesale destruction.    So then, in effect, the only applicable rule of law in this country, is the "law of the jungle", and those that are up on the watchtower, searching for our enemies, are looking in all of the wrong places, for the fearful enemy is amongst us; armed, authorized, and very dangerous.

Internet pricing inconsistencies

More and more business is transacted over the internet, so that such has become a routine way to shop, but unlike shopping inside a physical store in which the price of merchandise is clearly displayed, and of which that price is not some sort of revolving door in which as you reach to grab that piece of merchandise, the price thereupon changes to something slightly higher; rather, it always remains the same to that posted price.  On the other hand, pricing on the internet, is far more dynamic, of which, prices of a given product can change, even multiple times in a day, and therefore the price of such can be different than what it once was, previously in the day, of which sometimes that price movement is favorable to consumer, and sometimes it is not.  Further to the point, just because a given item is in a consumer's cart, does not provide that consumer with carte blanche that the price cannot or will not change, but merely signifies that if the consumer purchases that product within a reasonable period of time, that the price will be so honored, although, such seems to be left up to the policies and particulars of each given internet seller.

What does seem unfair is when companies that sell both online as well as having brick and mortar stores, do not have a consistent price between the two domains.  That is to say, for instance, that one's local department store has one price for an item that a consumer is shopping for, whereas that same department store's online persona, the price so posted is actually different.  The workaround to allow such pricing discrepancies to be legal for these big conglomerates is that though both sites have the same name, they are not the exact same thing; basically signifying that the local management of a given store does NOT need to have the same pricing that is shown online to consumers, because they are in substance, not exactly the same, and therefore not compelled to price their wares exactly the same.

What also seems to be unfair, is the pricing inconsistency when one goes to an online site but has not logged in and has selected a product worth purchasing, only to find out that when one thereupon does log in to purchase the product that the pricing has changed in an unfavorable direction to that person.  This seems to fall under false advertising, because that vendor has one price that is displayed through a generic search, whereas, when it comes to the actual purchase being made, the price is higher.  The workaround for retailers for this, really comes down to the fact, that a generic search, of which, the internet does not know for a certainty the exact location of the person considering the purchase of a product, does NOT need to match what the price of that item is, within that specific locality, of which the purchaser is logged in at. In other words, the price for a given item for a New York City resident does not need to match what that item would sell for to someone in Kansas City.

Still, the fact that prices are so dynamic on the web, and appear to change, depending upon whether one is logged in or not, or other criteria, lends itself to very thing that appears to be happening; at least, from time-to-time, which is those slight nuisance increases in prices to the consumer, because the seller of such, perhaps through an algorithm or similar, believes that the consumer has made an emotional commitment to a particular product and will buy such, even despite a very slight increase in price.

Hi-technology companies and their purposeful lack of unionization

Some of the best paying jobs are in hi-tech, and without a doubt, some of the very deepest of financial pockets are also in the hi-tech domain.  Yet, hi-tech companies that have plenty of capital to do right by those that they employ, and should therefore have the easy capacity to accommodate the unionization of their workforce, including, most importantly, their white collar workers, should they be so inclined, have not done so.  In fact, those hi-tech companies that utilize janitorial services, kitchen services, and the like have a very strong tendency not to work with unions even in these relatively modest paying jobs, but rather prefer to engage such through the subcontracting of that work, so that the pay, and thereby the unionization or not, of those janitorial and kitchen workers, is left as the responsibility of that party who has the subcontract.  Further, when it comes to the mass production of products such as phones, tablets, game stations, and the like, these are typically outsourced to a foreign country, thereby freezing out domestic employment for the construction of these products, and in addition, those that are doing the real assembly work, are not direct employees to that hi-tech company, but rather are typically considered to be employees, if that, of the subcontractor, which provides those hi-tech companies with the distancing so needed, to disavow their involvement, positive or negative, in the pay of, or the benefits of, those that are not thereby directly working for them.

While many a white collar worker, seems unconcerned about any of this, because their pay is usually quite good, and the benefits that go with that pay, usually being quite lucrative as well; they seem not to understand that in a global economy, in which the United States surely does not have a patent upon the reasoned intelligence and education so needed to be a member in good standing for hi-tech white collar desk work, have place themselves in the rather unenviable position of trusting that their management will forever have them foremost in their respective minds, when quite clearly there isn't any real good reason to expect management to do anything of that sort.  After all, if the work that is being done domestically by white collar workers, currently, can be replicated overseas, even at some degree of reduced efficiency, but at a price point which is half the cost, or even less; then these hi-tech companies are going to, if not having done already, inevitably going to avail themselves of that cost saving, at the express loss of opportunity and employment for those domestic white collar workers.

As they say, when it comes to unionization, the party to go after, should always be that specific party that has the capacity to readily pay, and the leading hi-tech companies in America, have bucket loads upon bucket loads of money, of which, the lion's share of the profits and money so being made is certainly not going to their blue collar workers or subcontractors; nor is it even going to their privileged white collar workers, who though paid well, seem not to somehow comprehend that they are, in many ways, extremely underpaid in comparison to the mountains of money so being minted by their employer, each and every day.  In truth, the real winners are the elite and financiers of those hi-tech companies, the richest of the richest of people, who have made it their point and principle not to accept unionization and to do all that they can to stop or undercut such, because in their selfish, self-serving viewpoint, they are the master class, the barons of the hi-tech world, and therefore all others are beneath them and clearly exist just to serve them.

The right evolution

For whatever reason, guided or misguided, schools insist in propagating the belief that mankind has somehow evolved from apes, over some period of millions of years.  How much truth or credence that one can put into this theory, depends upon what the true purpose of mankind really is; of which, for those that believe that mankind's highest purpose is simply to be a very smart and diligently evolved person, and that this is in essence all that we will ever be, then such an evolutionary theory as that, perhaps serves its purpose. On the other hand, for those that intuitively understand that the purpose of our life on this material plane is to expand our human consciousness so as to ultimately connect and link into God's consciousness, they have discovered the right evolution, and thereby the only evolution of lasting relevance and of abiding purpose.

The blinding of people's eyes so as to systematically ignore all that is invisible and of the spirit, to thereby put their efforts only upon that which is visible, measurable, and considered to be knowable is a tragic dead end, and thereby is not evolutionary, whatsoever.  While it is true that we are physical in our constitution on this material plane, is also true that each of us has dominion over our mind and of our spirit, and of which, through learned concentrated focus, and often through the guidance of someone or something that represents our guru or wise one, we are thereby able to experience the opening up of our third eye, which permits us to subsequently connect to that which is inerrant, all knowing, and all seeing.

The evolution that each of us is required to achieve, is that evolution that brings us ever closer to oneness with God, and not that which ignores or circumvents the Creator of it all.  We are here in this world, for the expressed purpose to prove that we have the wherewithal and thereby the gumption to follow the pathway that will provide us with living water, rather than faithfully following those false constructs that are in the end, of temporal satisfaction, if even that.  We live within an age in which never have so many, been provided with so much in material goods from achieved impressive material success; yet, that age is also an age in which a massive contingent of those materially successful people are haunted that all that they have in hand, still does not bring them lasting satisfaction in their lives.

There is in this world, and every dimension beyond such, just one truth, though there may be many pathways that will bring us to that truth, there is, definitively, just that one truth.  Those that are false or are on false paths will have to, sooner or much, much later, find that which is true, in order to thereby have that piece of mind and of spirit, which will ultimately allow them to find that satisfying rest, that their restlessness has previously precluded them from experiencing.   The real knowledge that each of us needs to seek, is that knowledge, which is ours for the taking, freely available, from that which created us in the first place, and of which those of wisdom are in the process of evolving themselves back to.

The hidden costs of fossil fuels

First, it must be said that society would in all probability, not have advanced so far and at such a rapid pace if it had not been for the industrial revolution, and thereby the usage of fossil fuels, for energy, for products, for industry, for research and development, and basically for every conceivable material thing that nowadays we typically take for granted. Further to the point, modern society as currently constructed, is absolutely beholden to fossil fuels, and to disassociate itself from such, at a reasonable cost and in a reasonable pace of time, is currently problematic, at best. Additionally, there isn't really any abiding necessity that society needs to totally forsake fossil fuels, but rather it should take the responsible position, that the true cost of fossil fuels should not be hidden or be opaque, but should to the degree, possible, be transparent, which thereby would make appropriate policies by governments and corporations much more sensible and less subject to the inevitable obeisance to favorites and to outright market distortion.

After all, the true cost of fossil fuels should fairly reflect environmental damages of all stripes and ilks, cancer causing agents, and pretty much everything of relevance that is harmful; of which, those costs should be part and parcel of representing the true cost of doing businesss with that fossil fuel. Further to the point, it is up to the government to hold the responsible corporate entities, feet to the fire, for the economic and monetary power that the largest fossil fuel companies currently have is so great, that government is the only party that has the power to hold them in line, and this must be accomplished via robust governmental policies, as opposed to that government, of, for, and by the people, being co-opted by those corporate entities so that they fail to meaningfully regulate such on behalf of the people.

The bottom line is that most corporations are about extracting as much profit as they can from the products that they are selling, of which, quite obviously, doing what needs to be done to protect the environment, and to be a good corporate citizen is typicallynot foremost in that mindset, though through good governance it should definitely be an appreciable part of the equation. In short, fossil fuels, by their very nature, necessitate a meaningful disturbance of the land in order to forcefully extract the product from that land. While it must be said that the expertise in extracting such, has never been greater, it must also be said, that for-profit companies are known for their reluctance to pay the full freight of the true impact of that extraction.

In fact, to make the argument in a different way, it could be said that what the land so holds, should be in the collective ownership of those that are citizens of that land, of which, therefore, those that desire to extract fossil fuels from that land, should be restricted to providing the tools, eqiupment, and expertise for such, subject to the conditions, rules and regulations, and royalty thereby agreed to by those that legislate on behalf of the people, for the fossil fuels subsequently generated and produced. In other words, why should today's massive corporations be permitted to extract all that they can from the land for private or stockholder profit, without equally being held fully accountable for the negative consequences of that extraction, in the here and now, and thereby subject to paying the full consequence?

The ongoing Nigerian oil spills

As reported by the nytimes.com, the Nigerian delta “... has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates,” which is not only an absolutely staggering amount of pollution over an extended period of time, but it is astonishing that this has not been dealt with by the government or any other entity in a manner which fully takes into account, the great ecological and pollution cost of such ongoing destruction.

While it certainly makes sense, that governments and the corporations that make up that nation, have an abiding interest to promote and to create that which employs domestic labor as well as producing that which can be exported worldwide, so as to thereby receive monies that are beneficial for that country, corporations, and its people; it must also be acknowledged that the object of the exercise is not to just extract and to sell the oil, but that such must be balanced by accomplishing this within a framework that is sustainable and does not do imprudent harm, and even irreparable harm to the environment, and thereby the people of that nation.

No doubt, there are costs involved in structuring any business to conform to reasonable environmental standards and further it is not possible that such is going to be accomplished overnight, or that it would somehow miraculously thereby take care of all the pollution so being generated as well as that previously generated; but, it must be acknowledged that whatever principles and laws that currently are in play, are obviously not strong enough, or effective enough, signifying that the ongoing pollution situation is not actually being addressed in any sort of competent manner.

Of course, when it comes to pollution, especially that of waterways, those that would reasonably appear to be most culpable, are astute at pointing out that Nigeria suffers from a lot of sabotage and the siphoning of oil from pipelines by anti-government militants and the like. As true as this may be, much more could be done to address what should be addressed by those oil companies and if Nigeria will not make it a priority to deal with their waterway pollution, and will not hold accountable those that have some degree of culpability to such, then the problem will surely not take care of itself on its own.

When any country and its governmental policies, in regards to the implementation of such, are so anemic that in essence, money now, trumps the cost of the damage of the environment for the present generation along with generations to come, then it must be said that the need for that monetary capital has not correctly been balanced against what is right for the people, in whole. Rather, oil is the type of commodity, in third world nations which typically enriches the very few and the well placed, at the expense of the population in whole; made much worse, by those people also suffering from ill health and reduced self-sufficiency because of the corresponding oil contamination of the environment. The Nigerian oil pollution issue need not be intractable, but in order to address such, this necessitates a willful, determined and robust policy enforcement from those that have the power to do so.

Police officers are not social workers

Society has made the mistake of not better defining and thereby restricting what a police officer should or should not be doing and what they should best be attending to, in regards to their daily interactions with the general public. Because police officers, have the power to arrest, and thereby the authority to take away the freedom of a given citizen, this thereby signifies that a significant portion of the population, is almost never comfortable with their involuntary contact with police officers, and seldom would desire to initiate such contact. This actually makes sense, for freedom and liberty are absolutely precious to most people, of which, few are desirable of having such taken forecefully away from them, or to have such liberties revoked without their willful consent.

On the other hand, this country has robust social services that are expressly there to be of service to the population, and of which this foundation is augmented by the meaningful contribution of good people from various charitable organizations. It would seem that in many cases in regards to non-violent people that are homeless, or suffering from mental health issues, or drug abuse, or basically falling into any of those “victimless” crime categories, that this would be better dealt with by those that are well versed as well as competent in dealing with people in a manner in which they can be of assistance to them; rather than such being dealt with by someone that is trained to maintain civil order, often, by any means, necessary.

Again, police officers are trained and instructed to maintain civil order, of which, often they resort to expeditiously removing the problem from the public eye, for they have neither the time nor the patience nor the social services background to do much else. Yet, this does absolutely nothing about resolving the underling issues of the people, involved; nor does it do much of anything of merit, except to serve to delay until another day,what should be more appropriately dealt with in a manner in which a helping hand is extended, to the degree that such can be safely and prudently so done.

While we may not wish to acknowledge the fact that they are a multitude of people that have issues that preclude them from functioning in a manner that adheres closely to social norms as well as social preferences; it is our duty as a society to come forth with programs that foregoes punishment as the default rule, and replaces such with programs that are sensible in helping to alleviate suffering by an honest effort to deal with people in a manner in which we are of meaningful service to them.

After all, the object of the exercise is not to lock up people simply because they are a nuisance to us, but rather to make the effort to provide them with the tools and the wisdom in which they thereby have the opportunity to turn their lives around, or if not that, at least, to provide them with some degree of autonomy as well as self-respect.

Public ownership records

The general public within any nation deserves to have the tools to know who and what entity, individual, corporate, or whatever, really owns that which is part of the public domain, of which this knowledge should be robust enough to fully provide a comprehensive breakdown of that vital information.  That which is of the public domain is all that which has been created or purchased and is part of the general milieu of that community, which consists of all real estate, equity and bond transactions, all businesses, public as well as private, and virtually anything that has something of monetary value associated to it. In other words, shell companies or their ilk, should never be permitted to exist, but rather those that are the ultimate beneficiaries of any appreciable amount of a given asset, should be completely named and noted, with a public disclosure of such, readily available.

Further, citizens of a dynamic democracy, of which each citizen by rights should be, and of which, in theory, each citizen is equal to any other citizen, have a fundamental right within that democracy, to know who and what owns the property in their country of residency.  Additionally, those citizens have a legitimate right to know who the actual business owners are within their community, as a fair price for those businesses to pay for being so licensed to do business in that community, of which all of this should be part of the public domain, without exception.  In other words, transparency and openness is fundamental to whether or not a democracy is true to its principles, and thereby such must be part and parcel of that country; for it is not conceivable that an uninformed constituency would somehow know how to vote and what to favor, if they do not know who the real players are, or are not.

After all, the average citizen's ownership of what they have of value, is pretty much always out in the open, but those that have the lion's share of wealth, especially that of dubious angles, often have a very strong tendency to setup their affairs in a deliberate and purposeful manner, that serves to obfuscate the full extent of their ownership positions, for the expressed purpose so as to not make it obvious, the favoritism so shown to them by those in authority that have done so, which typically involves things such as tax avoidance, outright corruption, and money laundering.  Again, it must be stated, that those that feel the need to hire an endless amount of lawyers and accountants to deal with their personal and business affairs, are probably doing so, in order to game the system or dodge such, for their benefit.

So too, it can be said, that those that hide behind false flags of all types, are  almost, without exception, not those that are simply modest or of a humble mindset, but rather are clearly up to no good, in one form or another.  Those that cannot handle the heat of the fair exposure of what they truly own and control via the fair vetting by the general public of a full disclosure via divulged ownership records, should seldom be considered to be citizens of good standing, but should rightly be seen, as suspect, and downright unpatriotic.

The distribution of profits is grossly unfair to the typical worker

We read at epi.org, that "… the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation ratio (options realized) was 20-to-1 in 1965," and "… the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio rose to 221-to-1 in 2018."  it is a real stretch of the imagination to believe that CEOs, in whole, are eleven times smarter and eleven times more efficient, and eleven times more valuable, then they were back in 1965, of which, even back then the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation ratio was already 20-to-1, signifying that a typical worker had to work 20 hours just to match the pay of the CEO working but just one hour; of which nowadays that typical worker must now work 220 hours, or five and one-half weeks to match the pay of just one hour of work by the CEO.

The blame for all of this increased CEO pay at the expense of the common man can be laid typically at the feet of upper management, as well as upon the Board of Directors of such, and the insane pay packages thereby put together to compensate CEOs by these enablers.  Of course, such a belief is very self serving as lucrative compensation packages approved thereby, also helps to feather their own executive beds, and thereby takes away from the typical worker what rightly they should be receiving some reasonable portion of.  To a very large extent, CEOs are extremely adept at augmenting their base salary, through the receipt of vesting options, favorably valued and of immense quantity, that provides them with a crazy gargantuan amount of additional compensation, which often dwarfs their published salary, and of which the common man, typically does not receive, or receives such at the smallest of fractions of those so provided to the CEO.

While it must be said that the good profits so generated in any business, typically requires hard work, good strategic decisions, the proper use of research and development monies, competent marketing, and a slew of other attributes; it can also be said, that quite obviously one sole CEO cannot and does not do it all themselves.  In fact, by contributions of all of the workers, large and small, profits are generated; so that, at the end of the day, the decision that really needs to be made is whether or not to make a fair distribution of those profits so generated.

Quite clearly, even the greediest of all CEOs, knows intuitively that they are not 221 times more valuable than their own typical worker, for they do not work 221 times more hours, nor do their generate 221 times more productivity.  What CEOs are very, very good about is being the first in line to get their share of the profits, and to make sure that those profits are divvy up in a manner in which those that are in the pole position to do so, get as much as they can possibly get, without nary a thought about the fairness of it.

In consideration that public companies are a creature of the state, and that their purported purpose is for these artificial creations of the state to be of benefit to the people that make up that country; then it so behooves those that regulate these public companies, and thereby permits such to be traded on public stock exchanges, that the compensation thereof of that upper management, such as a CEO, must be fair to that public, at large, and in particular, those that are the typical workers of such.   After all, the evidence is quite clear, today's CEOs have no shame in extracting as much of the profit from a given corporation for their own personal purse at the expense of those others that are employed there; so that, in an era in which trade unions have been eviscerated, it is up to this government, of, for, and by the people, to make right, what clearly is wrong.

The tyranny of the oligarchy

The healthiest countries are always going to be those countries that have a more even distribution of opportunity, income, and wealth for their countrymen, which thereupon represents in action that each person within that country truly has a fair stake in it.  All those other countries that claim so proudly that they are free, bastions of liberty, and supporters of equality as well as being recognizers of the value of meritocracy, of which, despite having these fine sentiments, have massive disparities between those that are the few that have everything, as compared to those many that have not a thing, are hollow at their core, and therefore not to be respected, or trusted.

When all the dollars and all the power are essentially in the hands of an unelected oligarchy, and when the muscle of that country answers strictly to those few elites that have the power, money, and position; and in which the justice system is in lockstep with those that actuate it, then despite whatever written Constitution is so enumerated, or laws so legislated, all of that in whole really just represents a deceptive facade, for the real deal is in the revealing evidence that clearly is visible to the seeing and knowledgeable eye.

Again, it must be stated, that while substantial wealth for a country in aggregate is on paper, a very good thing; there is a fundamental and foundational divide though, when that wealth is skewed heavily to a very small subsection of the people, while leaving a massive amount of the other people with little or nothing to own themselves.  In fact, the impoverished in these countries, typically do not have a fair chance to make something of their lives, ever; because the wealth of the mighty and powerful, is often directly or indirectly based upon their continued exploitation, injustice, and oppression of the poor and defenseless, for the expressed benefit of those that make up the oligarchy.

No country can vibrantly survive long, when the lion's share of the wealth is concentrated in just a few hands, and of which in order to maintain their privileged status, those that are the oligarchy, have to rely more and more on discriminatory policing actions as well as an oppressive justice system to keep the people in their place.  Further, when those elites put forth policies that effectively negate the people's voice, so that a democracy is not really a democracy, and thereby all issues of import, are always decided in favor of those that control the purse, then such a country as that, has deliberately turned its back upon the balancing so needed, in order to make good and conscientious decisions, and thereby will inevitably reap what it has so improvidently sown.

The fundamental problem with any oligarchy is that it becomes so enamored with what is good for their selfish selves, that it fundamentally forgets and dismisses all those sensible and dissenting voices, and by ignoring that which is reason, to feather their own nest, again and again, there comes that time when nary a soul upon the watchtower so bothers to read the ominous signs, and by the time those privileged elites do recognized the dire seriousness of the problem, it's far too late, for the whole edifice in its entirety, is caught in a fiery conflagration of its own hubris' making.

Matthew 6: 34

We read in Holy Scripture: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 34).  The whole point of this esteemed wisdom is to help us to remember that each of us should make it our point to stay focused upon the here and now, rather than dwell upon the past, which cannot be changed; nor upon the future, which cannot be known for a certainty. 

While it is important to own what we have done in our past actions, that recognition should be primarily utilized so as to improve our behavior and demeanor in the present, as well as to take to heart those lessons so learned.  On the other hand, many people, spend an inordinate amount of time, worrying about the future, and thereby that constant worry, affects them in a negative way in the present, of which, many of those things that we are prone to worry about, never even come to pass, or if they do, such an event is usually not nearly as catastrophic as previously feared.

This doesn't indicate that we shouldn't plan for the future, or that we shouldn't have goals that we endeavor to work towards, but rather this indicates that in order to achieve anything of substance, requires that such can only be accomplished by that which is so done in the ever present, and as long as we stay focused, driven, and on the straight and narrow, so that we thereby keep our ear always to the grindstone, then  the efforts that we put forth each day will ultimately bring us closer to that which we desire strongly for and yearn for.  After all, we do not simply become what we what to be, in a single day, but we do get there, day-by-day, as long as we keep our nerve, our concentration, and our purpose clearly in our mind and in our deeds, and endeavor that we shall never give up, daily.

So too, many people spend way too much time, second guessing themselves, and constantly will not let go of negative thoughts, and perceived negative outcomes; without seeming to understand that the way to live a successful life has a lot more to do with taking the time to measure that which needs to be measured, and if necessary doing such twice or even more, before thereby making the cut, which thereby represents the visible result of the preliminary thoughtful work so accomplished, beforehand.  In other words, to overcome worry, one needs to be more diligent about addressing daily that which should be addressed in order to achieve or to have that good chance of success, thereof.

So then, there are only twenty-four hours in a given day, of which each of us has mandatory responsibilities that must be dealt with constructively on that day; so that when provided with the opportunity to think and to contemplate, it behooves us to concentrate on that which is the most important issue of that day, so that we can best tackle and overcome that which is right in front of us, and thereby not worry about that which is not, and may not ever be.

The why of lynching

Thousands of black men, of which, probably the great majority of such, were innocent of whatever dubious offense that they were alleged to have perpetrated, were lynched after the conclusion of the civil war and the years thereafter, till such eventually fell out of favor to a more "civilized" nation, by the 1950s until the present age.  While one might think that the purpose of a given lynching, was to bring "mob justice" to a miscreant; in fact, the real purpose of lynching was not so much that, or even to allegedly protect the virtue of the white southern woman, but mainly such was done by those that were no respecters of the law, with the main objective of this primitive act being to thoroughly terrorize and to intimidate black people of that local community.

After all, in recognition that though the white man in many southern communities represented all of the money, all of the justice, and all of the guns in that community, they were still in total, often physically outnumbered by those blacks so freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, and hence these blacks, now free, were no longer enslaved to the white man.  Further to the point, the white man was never going to easily tolerate the black man having any sort of equal standing with them, no matter what the federal law so said, and thereupon southern white men were inclined to find any sort of pretense whatsoever, to keep the black man in their place, by arbitrarily abusing them and then publically hanging them.  So too, it was important to those white men effecting that extrajudicial justice, that the black man be publically humiliated so as to send a clear and unequivocal message to all those blacks that were part of that community, that the white man was, judge, jury, and the literal executioner of them.

The era of lynching was not an era in which the white man had to shy away from what and who he really was, but rather was an opportunity instead, to prove that though the white southern man, may have lost the war, he had not lost the power to keep those that were formerly his slaves, effectively, under his oppressive thumb, of which, all those blacks that played by the white man's rules, by thereby paying obeisance to that white man at all times and under all circumstances, along with subservient blacks not complaining about being cheated by that white man, were typically permitted to have their place, especially if they were able to contribute to the powers-to-be of that community by their labor; whereas, those "uppity" blacks, or those that were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, suffered the most undignified and the most unjust of deaths.

The full purpose of these public lynching's, was to send a clear message not just to the blacks of the community, that their literal life and death was in the hands of these extrajudicial domestic terrorists, but also to send a message to the whites of that community, that they too must fall in line, and thereby forsake any sort of progressive or liberal thinking, for the only law that really matter back then was that which was practiced by those that brokered no dissent from that of which they did with impunity.

The Socialist Party of America

In today's America, while there are actually a multitude of political parties, there are, in fact, only two political parties that matter, and these two parties effectively control national, state, and local election politics.  While there may yet come a time when a viable third party comes to fruition in America, again; in recent decades, the only time that any other political party has been relevant, has always been based around a specific, particular candidate, such as George Wallace, or H. Ross Perot, as compared to the political party, that those candidates are running under, proper.

Incredibly, in 1912, Eugene Debs, in a Presidential run as the Socialist Party of America's candidate, garnered nearly 1 million votes, which was good enough for 6% of the national vote, in which the winner, Woodrow Wilson, received less than 42% of that national vote.  As important as Debs run was, it should be noted, that in the 1910s there were two Socialist candidates that won office as United States Representatives.  Additionally, as reported by Wikipedia.com, during this time period, "…dozens of state legislators, more than a hundred mayors, and countless lesser officials…" were elected, that were members of the Socialist Party. 

All of the above, makes the very salient point, that certain elements within this society, have for an extended period of time, been frustrated with the capitalistic system as practiced in America, in which, quite clearly, there are a few outsized winners, that benefit themselves along with their ilk; while leaving a substantial portion of Americans with little or nothing to hold onto, and thereby a desire by those so left out to be part of a political system that would properly allow them to have some semblance of a life, in which those that work diligently would be able to thereby harvest fairly what they have duly sowed.  So too, typically unrecognized, is that those that are the richest amongst us, , far too often, have obtained that money and power, by virtue of their ruthless exploitation of others, favoritism, connections, and the gaming of the system, to favor their interests at the expense of the general public. 

The bottom line is that the people, in whole, are not stupid, and recognize implicitly as well as explicitly that the system as practiced in this country is wholly unfair.  Again and again, the change so promised to those people, never comes to bear, and therefore, in absence of any toehold of significance in this nation, they gravitate to that which supports the common man in achieving noteworthy goals of owning something of significance, as well as having enough self-sufficiency, to be able to be their own person.

Those political candidates of today that appeal to socialistic credos, will continue to have their relevancy, because the underclass of America is now, and has been, dismissed and marginalized for so long, that such is itching to have their fair day in this country of supposed liberty and opportunity.  In a nation, in which each person of age is entitled to one vote, there is only so long that a small minority can successfully rule the roost, without such a country devolving into a de facto police state.  Those that are socialist today in their sentiments are in harmony with those that were socialist back then, because each of these people desires a life worth living, and this of all countries, should be able to fairly provide that for its entire people.