Knowledge Is Free

One of the biggest scams of capitalism is the belief that knowledge costs money. Since people believe this, it causes people to become jealous of knowledge. The belief that some can have knowledge simply because they have money. Those without money are just out of luck, so they become jealous of "others" attaining knowledge when they themselves don't believe they can afford it. Some of us are so against knowledge that even when we attain the money to get knowledge we still refuse to do so out of an act of defiance. Some of us even go to the extreme of burning books. Honestly if it makes someone feel better about themselves to burn some books, go ahead and let them, it literally accomplishes nothing. In this day and age, it's damn near impossible to erase knowledge from existence. There are always more copies that can printed and there are always backups and backups for the backups. The truth is people who burn books in an attempt to stop people from reading that book, causes more people to read it than normally would have, since they weren't even aware of the book before people started burning it. 

Knowledge can also be associated with "evil". Some people use religion or spirituality or even God as a form of cultism. Some religions convince their followers that "Satan will use knowledge to infiltrate your soul", so if you don't want to be possessed by Satan you better not learn anything new! Something that needs to be made very clear to EVERYONE is that any organization / religion / group/ individual who tries to stop you from acquiring knowledge is a CULT plain and simple. The only reason someone doesn't want you to acquire knowledge is because they know as soon as you get smart enough you will see them for what they are, which is a scam. A wolf in sheep's clothing so to speak. 

The truth that remains to be hidden to the majority of us is knowledge is free. A quick google search and you can find hundreds of sources for knowledge. One example is this site: https://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses. This site has 1,700 courses from top universities. This same site also has 800 eBooks, 1,000 audiobooks, 200 certificate programs, and mini degree programs. That is just one site among hundreds. Through your local library you usually have access to books, audiobooks and a plethora of other things. We live in a world with the internet which includes having dictionaries, thesauruses, and encyclopedia all at our fingertips, we no longer need an entire bookcase of books that will have outdated information within a few years.

We have podcasts, documentaries, YouTube, and tutorial videos. Knowledge is endless and infinite. All we need to do to find knowledge is to simple open our eyes and look for it. Capitalism would convince you that any knowledge you acquire that doesn't have a piece of paper attached to it is worthless, when in fact that piece of paper they give you is worthless. Once you have knowledge, no one can ever take that away from you no matter how hard they try. When you have knowledge, "others" can't take advantage of you as easily, it becomes harder for "others" to scam you. Once you have knowledge of how to do something, you no longer need to rely on "others" to do that thing. If you know how to change the brakes on your car you can do it yourself for a couple hundred dollars. If you don't know how to change the brakes on your car, you have to bring it to someone who knows how to do it and pay close to $1,000 or more. You are paying someone for the knowledge that they have and that you lack, but if you didn't lack that knowledge, you would no longer need to pay someone else.

Knowledge makes life cheaper, easier, less stressful, and makes us less likely to be bamboozled. The fact that we currently have access to more knowledge than anytime in modern history but most of us refuse to ever look at it, just shows how lost we all are as a species. People often ask the question "if you could ask God one question, what would it be?" the truth is you don't need to ask God, just look for the answer, there's always an answer for everything if you look hard enough. Any question that can be asked, has an answer, it may not be the answer you like or wanted, but there will always be an answer. 

The funny/peculiar thing about knowledge is that you can only rise intellectually until a certain point before you come to the ultimate realization, the absolute knowledge, the irrefutable truth of the universe. Which is you know nothing; in fact, no one knows anything. Which has been explained in this post: Words Aren't Real

“I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.” - Socrates.

“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.” - Albert Einstein

If someone doesn't want you to acquire knowledge, they do not have your best interest at heart. They have their own agenda and motivations. Satan doesn't use knowledge to possess anyone. Satan fears knowledge, since knowledge leads to the death of Satan (If you have enough knowledge, you will understand that statement). Seek out knowledge, don't be afraid of it, don't believe the lie that you need money to acquire it, don't believe the lie that you need a piece of paper for acquired knowledge to mean anything. Knowledge is forever and no one can ever steal it from you. I Love you and Peace be With you!

"But you don't have to take my word for it" - Levar Burton

Levar Burton

Image Source: https://abc7chicago.com/readingrainbow-reading-rainbow-kickstarter-levar-burton/83485/

I, like so many others in my generation, grew up being read to by Levar Burton. For many of us Levar was who introduced us to reading. I grew up in a home where books weren't around. When you grow up in poverty, books rank very low on the list of essentials. When you grow up in an abusive and neglectful home, no one cares enough to give you anything, let alone a book. Levar burton was somewhat of a parental figure / friend / teacher to me and so many others. Levar introduced me to books and planted a seed of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge within my soul. He is part of the reason I am who I am today writing this post. Even today he continues to read to us on his podcast. Levar if you ever read this, on behalf of everyone who's life you touched, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being a light of positivity and Love in this world. You made a dark and terrifying childhood seem a little less dark. You were our friend when we didn't have any. Thank you and We Love you!

What I'm going to discuss in the rest of the post is in no way a reflection of Levar Burton. What I'm going to discuss is simply my experience and perspective. 

The day I discovered that Levar Burton was "black" and that there are "black" people was the day I found out about roots, which happened sometime in my preteen years. Before that time, he was just my friend Levar Burton. I had been taught that there were "black" people, I had been taught about people of color and about slavery, but I had never seen anyone "black" in my life. I went to school at a diverse elementary school close to the city, there were children of all backgrounds and ethnicities that went there. Here's the thing, as a child, I never once thought of anyone as "black" or "brown" or "yellow". Everyone was just a person to me; I hadn't yet seen the illusion of color. It wasn't until I found out that Levar burton played a role in a television series about slavery that all of a sudden everything I had been taught about "black" people, slavery, and separation came together. All of a sudden, I could see that there were black people and that they were "different". 

Even though I could see what everyone was talking about now and I finally understood what "black" people were I still knew "they" were humans and didn't deserve to be treated any differently. Yet the world I grew up in was vastly different. "Black" people are treated differently in this world, in fact most all people of color are. When a human becomes a label such as "black" it's a way of making "them" less human, it's a way of suppressing "them". When we apply labels, we automatically separate whatever is being labeled from ourselves in our mind on a subconscious level. "Men" are different from "women", "black" are different from "white", "rich" are different from "poor". Separation leads to bias, bias leads to hierarchy, hierarchy leads to war, and war leads to death. If we would wake up and realize that we are all human and even though we all come in different shapes and sizes, we are all the same. 

We can't pretend that there isn't racism in this world. There is most definitely racism in this world. Some of us ignore it, some of us lie, and some of us are actually completely ignorant to the fact that there is racism. As long as there is "black" and "white" or any other color, there will always be racism. Those are the facts; you can only have racism if there are races. HUMAN should be all that matters, nothing more, nothing less. This applies to every single label that is put onto anything in this world, when you label something, it becomes separate in your mind. The label usually becomes less than or better than, very rarely is it ever viewed as equal to.

Adult / child, fat / thin, smart / stupid, white / black, man / woman, good / evil, democrat / republican, gay / straight, religious / secular, sinner / saint, rich / poor, sane / insane, strong / week, legal / illegal, right / wrong, friend / enemy, yin / yang

We are all God's children, we are all part of the same universe, we are all one species, we are all the human... but we sure don't act like it. I Love You and Peace Be With You!

“So then, the relationship of self to “other” is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as “other” than yourself.”

― Alan W. Watts

Soul

A soul is who you are, it is your true nature, the real you. You don't possess a soul, you are a soul. Your mind creates a false identity ("ego"), based on your experiences and what "other" people tell you about your"self". We can't see ourselves from outside ourselves, so we gather information about who we are based off "others" input. We agree with some of the characteristics that people tell us and disagree with others. Our identity is a combination of our "outside" perspective as told by "others" and our "inside" experience. 

It's impossible for you to be anyone but who you are. An example using a physical form would be to think of yourself as a human. You are a human, therefore you cannot possess yourself as a human, you are what you are trying to possess. The soul works the exact same way, the difference is the soul appears to be invisible to our senses, that does not mean the soul isn't there. There are infinite things in this universe in which humans are not capable of perceiving. Humans can't perceive echolocation, yet we all know it exists. We know bats have the ability to perceive something humans can't. Do we really believe there isn't anything else we can't perceive with our senses? How many of us believe in angels, spirits, or ghosts? Simply forms that our human senses can't perceive using our five senses. 

Most of us believe that we humans have five senses when we have in fact have six senses. Our sixth sense is our real knowing, not the knowing of the mind. The mind thinks, the mind plays words on repeat. Our sixth sense is our gut feeling, our instincts, our wisdom. When the mind stops thinking, the "ego" disappears, when the "ego" disappears, the real you shines through. The real you is already here, the real you already exists, the real you is perfect, the real you is holy, the real you is eternal, the real you is Life, and the real you is Love!

You can't see the real you because you are so busy "doing" all the time. You "do" by clinging, grasping, trying, doing, talking, planning, remembering, planning, and regretting. You want to find the real you? Don't do anything, just sit your ass down and do nothing, don't move, don't talk, don't fight anything, don't try to do anything. Let your thoughts just play through your mind without judging them or trying to stop them, just observe your thoughts. Just sit and do absolutely nothing, also referred to as meditate. 

Why do you believe you need to do anything? What exactly do you "need" to do and why do you "need" to do it? You've been "doing" your whole life, how is that working out for you? Have you ever tried doing nothing? Try it sometime, it's liberating. If you want to keep "doing" things, you're only attempting an impossible task. I Love You and Peace Be With You!

Life In The Trees

Life in the trees is where it's at. Sitting high up in the sky and encased in a canopy of leaves. There are plenty of handholds and places to sit or lay if you choose. Friends in all forms living in symbiosis with each other. The leaves dampen the noises from the outside world, until they fade away into oblivion. The sun shines through the holes of the canopy and brings warmth and joy to the world within. The ants and other insects go about their business without a care in the world. Occasionally stopping to say hi along the way to their destination. The chickadees stop by for a few moments to sing you a sweet lullaby. A squirrel lays peacefully by on a branch taking a nap. The wind blows and each branch seems to sway of its own volition, yet they are all swaying as one, a perfect system of organized chaos. The gentle breeze blows across your face to remind you that you are alive. Every moment is an adventure, as you never know who will stop by to say hi. 

The strength of the tree lets you know that you're safe. The silence of the tree speaks of a wisdom beyond human comprehension. You become one with the tree as it takes your outbreath and gives you inbreath in exchange. You experience firsthand just how vital trees are to all life forms. You feel the energy pulsing through every fiber of the tree the same as you feel it pulsing throughout every fiber of your being. You know that you are home, and all is well. Before you know it, you start to laugh uncontrollably for no apparent reason. Your laughs fit right in with the birds singing their songs and the squirrels gathering their nuts. Noone in the tree stops what they are doing to ask you what you're laughing about, no one cares enough to notice. Your laughs simply become part of the experience. There is no judgement in the trees.

In the trees, all your worries fade into the nothingness that they are. The human who climbed the tree vanishes until there nothing left but life. Life that has no rules. Life that is not at war. Life that is peaceful and content. Life that surpasses the awareness of itself and transforms into the expression of life itself. Life that is connected to all of existence and time. You start to feel closer to this tree than you ever have to another human. You know you can't exist without this tree and the tree can't exist without you. You start to see the face of God shining through the mirage of space that separates you from the tree. You see that there is no separation and that you and the tree are in fact one being. You know there is nothing wrong and there never will be, everything is as it should be. There is nothing but pure unaltered joy and peace. The world of human that you knew all too well disappears into the ether.

You feel yourself start to float, not the outer physical body, but the inner energetic body. You feel light and free of pain and disease. Suddenly in a flash, the realization hits you, you're in heaven and you've been here all along, you just forgot due to all of your "problems" down below. You know in your heart that everything is ok and as long as the trees are here, we will be too. Loneliness vanishes when you have friends such as the trees. Life is good and you know it in your heart. All is well with the world.

Doctor For The Soul

The majority of people worldwide believe in the soul (74%). Yes, surveys are unreliable but the truth is the percentage isn't really important, what's important is the fact that over 50% (the majority) of people believe that we have a soul. Mind, Body, and Soul. That is what the majority of us believe ourselves to be. We have doctors for the body, we even have different subtypes of doctors for all the different parts of the body, which are plenty. We have doctors for the mind, which is also broken down into subtypes for different mental and emotional aspects. So where are the spiritual doctors? Doctors for the soul?

When we think of spirituality or the soul, we often think of religions. Think of religion the same you would think of the American educational system. Religion has levels, this topic was partially discussed in this post here, which was specifically referring to Christianity, more specifically the bible. Every major religion has levels, the highest level of religion is mysticism. Mysticism is where all the religions meet and point to the one true God or true nature of things. Christianity has Christian mystics. Judaism has the Kabbalah. Muslims have Sufism. Eastern religions have levels as well. You follow the teachings of Buddhism until you become a buddha, The term 'Buddha' is not a name but a title, meaning 'Awakened One' or 'Enlightened One'. Just as Christ wasn't Jesus's surname, it was his title.

Religion in its basic form could be considered elementary school. This would include the religious people who go to a religious service weekly but don't really incorporate religion into their lives beyond a weekly sermon. When you go deeper into religion you could be considered to be in high school. This would be the people who make the religion their identity. The hard-core religious people. Then you would move on to undergraduate school which would include priests, rabbis, monks, and so on. After that you would move on to your graduate studies. This would be considered to be someone like the pope. Next, you could go for a doctorate. That would be what we would consider to be the saints. Lastly, are the master teachers, that would be people such as buddha, Christ, and Muhammad.

There was once a time when we didn't have doctors. The first doctor for the body is considered to be Hippocrates of Kos (460-377 Before Common Era, BCE). The first doctor for the mind is considered to be, Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). There will be a day when we have just as many doctors for the soul as we do for the body and mind. Presently, they are hard to come by.

What is a doctor for the soul and what do they do? A doctor for the soul is exactly what it sounds like, a doctor for the spirit or soul. A doctor for the soul helps to heal the soul and awaken the real you.

How do you know when you need a doctor for your body? You feel pain or can tell something is out of place. How do you know when you need a doctor for your mind? You feel pain or can tell something is out of place. How do you know when you need a doctor for the soul? You feel pain or can tell something is out of place. We all instinctually know when something is not quite right within ourselves, even if we don't know what it is. That's what the doctor is for, to help you figure out what is going on and to heal it. 

You have religion, and then you have spirituality. They are simply two levels of the same thing. When people have started their spiritual journey, they usually don't have anywhere to turn. The spiritual journey can be utterly terrifying. When you experience a dark night of the soul, you have nowhere to turn. You want to call an ambulance and go to the hospital, but you know it's not your body that's sick. You want to check into a mental hospital, but you know it's not your mind that's broken even though it feels that way. You feel like you're going insane, but you can't tell anyone because no one would understand. You feel like you're dying even though you know you aren't somehow. So, you head to the internet, trying to find anyone who can help you, anyone who has been through what you have been through. You want someone to explain what's going on with you so you can know you're not going insane. Sometimes on the spiritual journey you get some answers by searching the internet but more often than not, your left feeling alone, terrified, and with nowhere to turn.

A spiritual doctor is someone who you can turn to when you can't go to the body or mind doctors. They are someone who can explain what is happening to you spiritually and why is it happening. They can give you helpful advice to get through it. They can prescribe you methods and practices. Most importantly they can comfort you. Most of us who are on a spiritual journey, didn't know what we were signing up for. Most of us didn't ask to start it. Our spiritual awakening seemed to be random. For most of us, it seems random. Why me? Why was I picked? You were picked to fulfill your purpose. Since we don't know what to expect on a spiritual journey and don't have a doctor to go to, we end up going it all alone and terrified. A lot of us fight the process out of fear. You aren't alone and you don't need to go through it alone. There's nothing to be afraid of. If you're here reading this, it's for a reason. We don't see anything that we don't want to see. There is help, you are not alone! I Love You and Peace Be With You!