Cages

Humans Love to assert their "dominance" and "power" over all living things in their futile attempt to take "control" over the natural world in which humans think they are separate from, when they are in fact part of. One-way humans do this is through the use of cages. The use of cages by humans goes back to the early days of recorded human history. It is certain that if something is alive, humans will try to cage it, which includes other humans. It's almost certain that if it were possible humans would cage God himself just to prove they could. 

Throughout human history, humans have utilized the use of cages in the form of human zoos, animal zoos, and prisons. Humans also like to have pets that they keep in cages ranging from animals and rodents, to birds, to reptiles and amphibians. Humans cage fish and aquatic creatures in aquariums. Humans put plants in garden cages and even put a rock in a cage in the form of a pet rock. There isn't anything that humans aren't willing to put in a cage.

Why do humans exhibit this bizarre behavior? Somewhere along the chain of human existence, came this idea that humans are separate from the environment in which they live. We can see this theory within religion. The majority of people in the world practice Abrahamic religions with the three major religions being Judaism, Christianity, and Islam with a plethora of minor religions that have branched off of the major religions. Most of the Abrahamic religions use the Torah which includes the creation story where human falls from grace and are cast out of the garden of Eden. 

Humans believe themselves to be separate from the world in which they live which leads to the belief that since they are separate, that they can also be "better than" the rest of the world and everything within it. Imagine your kidney declaring it's separateness from your body and then your kidney believing that is it better than the rest of your organs and then deciding to cage up your other organs in an attempt to show it's "dominance." We may laugh at this absurd example, but it's not very far off from what humans are actually doing every day. Humans are simply one organ within the body of earth. Through humans grandiose egoic design, we try to "control", "fix", "regulate", and "conserve" all other parts of the earth.

The human body has a built-in immune system which protects it from infections. Yet humans don't think that the earth itself has an immune system. Humans believe they have to take control of the earth and everything within it in order to "save" it. Humans refuse to see the earths immune system working all the time as it would shatter their belief that they are the most important thing to ever exist. Humans fail to see how storms, plagues, natural disasters, and disease are, all part of the earths immune system. The earth knows how to take care of itself in the same way our body knows how to take care of itself.

We were able to see the earth do a miraculous recovery during the days of the Covid lockdowns. Humans went into lockdown and the world all around us started to recover. Pollution started to clear up and animals showed up in places where they had never been. The earth knows how to take care of itself and doesn't need us to "fix" it or to "save" it. If we would stop trying to take control of everything, the earth would let us live in peace and harmony. As long as we keep trying to control the earth and everything in it, the earths immune system will keep putting us in our place. 

Humans' belief that they are all there is, instead of just one part of a much bigger body is what leads to the use of cages along with all other methods of humans attempt at "control". Humans have been utilizing cages since the beginning and where has it gotten us? There are more than 10.35 million people incarcerated throughout the world. 6,000,000 living animals are estimated to live in captivity for human entertainment. What benefits do humans actually receive from the use of cages? What benefits do any species receive from the use of cages? What have humans accomplished with the use of cages? What would a world without cages be like?

No living being deserves to be in a cage! That shouldn't be a controversial statement, but here we are. As long as you believe that any living being deserves to be in cage, you are saying that you yourself deserves to be in a cage because you are not separated from the world in which you live, you are part of it. If any part of the whole is deserving of something, then every part of the whole is deserving of the same thing. Imprison another and you yourself will be imprisoned. Live and let live. Love and Peace!  

Reincarnation As A Means To Overcome Duality

A common conceptual view of reincarnation is the view that we are reincarnated into a new body based on our karma or our actions within our previous lives. Depending on how "good" or "bad" you are in this life you will be placed into a life form in your next life that will be determined based off of this theory. Another theoretical view of reincarnation is that since there is no past or future and there is only the eternal present that reincarnation into other life forms isn't what is meant when reincarnation is referred to, but simply that reincarnation is happening every instant. We are constantly being reincarnated every instant and when we are able realize that, we are freed from the chains of reincarnation, or the wheel of life and death, which is the belief that you are the same person you were a second ago, a week ago, a decade ago, or even a lifetime ago. 

Duality as discussed in a previous post refers to the misperception of opposition. We see it all around us stemming from God vs. Satan. We all have perceived opposition within this human realm. The issue with the above-mentioned theories of reincarnation is they do absolutely nothing to address the misconception of duality. For the sake of ease within this discussion, we will be using a historical figure which everyone can understand for an example. We will be using Hitler as our theoretical example. It's a known fact that Hitler hated the Jewish people, I don't think very many will dispute that statement. That hatred would be carried on through reincarnation. It wouldn't matter who Hitler were to be reincarnated into since that hatred for the Jewish people would still be there. The one theory of reincarnation would argue that Hitler would be punished in all of his future lives based on his karma. We all want people to be punished for their actions, but isn't the ultimate goal to get someone to change their perspective and to actually feel regret and remorse for their actions?  

It ultimately wouldn't matter how many lives Hitler would live or how many times he was to be reincarnated, his hatred for the Jewish people would always follow him. Which would result in eternal punishment, but he would never learn from his past or come to regret his actions or feel remorse for them. Isn't that the highest level of punishment that anyone of us could ever receive? To feel remorse and regret for our actions? If a person doesn't regret their actions or feel remorse, then they aren't actually being punished because they don't believe they have done anything wrong. If they don't believe they have done anything wrong, then in their mind, they aren't being punished. Think of a personal example for yourself. When you feel regret and remorse for something you said or did, it causes you to feel like shit. You feel just awful and wish for nothing more than being able to get rid of that horrible feeling. On the other side of it, if someone says you wronged them, but you don't believe you have, you don't feel regret or remorse and therefore you feel great. The regret and remorse are the punishment.

What is the one- and only-way Hitler could ever come to understand the Jewish people, that Hitler could come to Love the Jewish people, and that Hitler could come to feel genuine regret and remorse for his treatment of the Jewish people? By being reincarnated as a Jew! That's the only way. Hitler didn't see the Jewish people as human, he didn't see the Jewish people as worthy of existing, so the only way to rectify that is by Hitler becoming a Jew himself. If Hitler were reincarnated as anything other than a Jew, he would never be punished since he would never be able to see Jewish people as human and as deserving to exist and therefor would never feel regret or remorse. If Hitler were reincarnated as a Jew, he would more than likely be a self-hating Jew for several lifetimes, potentially hundreds or thousands of lifetimes. He could even theoretically be reincarnated into one of the Jewish people that were at one of his camps. 

Wouldn't that be the ultimate form of punishment? To be reincarnated into the person or people that he hates the most. He would spend countless lifetimes hating himself and wishing for his very own eradication. Eventually after thousands of lifetimes he would start to identify himself with being a Jew, he would start to see himself and all Jewish people as human and as worthy of existing. He would come to feel regret and remorse for his treatment of the Jewish people and then that's when his true punishment would begin. He would have to live with all of that regret and remorse following him in endless karma while it conflicts with his very own hatred of himself. His only escape from the endless cycle of birth and death and the complete split within himself would be to forgive himself. As a Jew, he would be forced to forgive the past version of himself referred to as Hitler. A seemingly impossible task.

What if reincarnation is in fact the act of being reincarnated into who we hate the most? If we don't direct our hate at a specific person or group of people and constantly redirect our hate into different people, then we would be reincarnated into all the different people we hate. If we are the type of person who hates everyone, we're in for a very long haul of many lifetimes within many different people. Just take a moment to imagine yourself being reincarnated into the person or group of people you hate the most. How would that make you feel? Would you feel disgusted? I'm sure you wouldn't be feeling joy and gratitude.

Now for the good news! We don't have to wait until we die to be reincarnated into our enemies and those that we hate. We have the ability to be released from the cycle of birth and death now and not be forced to live out countless lives being punished living as our enemies. It's very simple in theory but not so much so in practice. The answer is to Love your enemies. Love those who you hate. Now you're saying "How the hell do I Love someone that I hate? Those are opposing forces!" By putting yourself in their shoes now. Imagine what it is like to be them now. Try to figure out their motivations. Use empathy, compassion, understanding, wisdom, grace, forgiveness, and gratitude just to name a few. The truth is, it's not easy to turn hate into Love, but it is possible and not only is it possible, but it is inevitable. You can either work on Loving your enemies now in this lifetime or you can wait until you have become the person you hate the most in your next life, the choice is up to you.  

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

―Christopher J. Nolan,The Dark Knight

You either die a hero (Love your enemies) or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain (reincarnate into your enemy, a.k.a. the "villain"). Love and Peace!

The Power Of Non-Reaction

Take a moment and think back to a time when you had a disagreement with someone that resulted in some sort of altercation. It doesn't matter who did what or what specific events occurred. It isn't even relevant who was "right" or "wrong". Someone said or did something that we didn't like or that triggered us. In turn we decided to speak up to defend our honor or pride which in turn caused them to push even harder which escalated us. Before we know it, we are having a screaming match or throwing punches. Sometimes that one event will lead to criminal chargers or embarrassment or the loss of a friend or family member.

We then spend weeks, months and even years replaying that one event in our minds over and over again trying to justify our own actions. We attempt to make sense of the situation. We try to think of what we could have done differently. We try to prove ourselves right in order to justify our actions in the event that took place. Our anger, bitterness, and hatred grow and grow over time towards the person who "wronged" us never once realizing that they are doing the exact same thing themselves. They are justifying everything they did to themselves and are convincing themselves that they are "right" and we are "wrong".

When we react to any given situation, it can only do one thing, which is to escalate the situation. We humans feed off of each other. Think about a concert you've been to where the whole crowd is in sync with the band and your sense of self fades away into the group of people and you become immersed in the moment and atmosphere and you along with the crown stop being human and become bliss. This experience can also happen at a church or religious event where everyone is singing praise songs together. Ultimately this experience can happen anywhere a group of people get together and do something as one. "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." - Mathew 18:20

The amplification of emotions within a group of people applies to all emotions within the human realm. If you've ever been in a group of people where there was fear, you were able to feel the collective fear of the entire group. A perfect example of this would be 9/11. Most of us were with a group of people at the time of the attack. Think back to that day and how it felt. It was more than just a feeling of personal fear, it was as if the entire country became engulfed in fear. The collective fear become so overpowering that it could be felt in the air and all around us. In that situation, we were able to put a face (Osama bin Laden) with the fear, so we were able to find a common enemy to fight and we banded together to fight that fear and attack our enemy.

Fast forward twenty years to Covid. Despite what some people may claim, there was and still is a lot of fear surrounding Covid. That's where the phrase "faith over fear" came from. Most of us were scared and some of us chose to trust in faith and others of us chose to trust in science. Just as during the 9/11 attacks the fear could be felt in the air all around us. Only this time we didn't have a face to put with the fear, we only had an invisible virus to put with the fear. A virus that we couldn't see and so some of us chose not to believe it was real and others of us chose to believe it was. Fear took over and we became divided and from there it wasn't a very big stretch to extend that division to every other aspect of our lives including but not limited to politics, religion, morality, economy, and even family. By reacting to the fear from the 9/11 attacks we ended up in a twenty-year war in which could be argued was "pointless". By reacting to the fear from Covid it divided humanity. 

Taking this down to a much smaller scale we can think of mass shootings or a fire in a crowded place or a bombing of some sort. We've all heard of "mass panic" where the crowd reacts to a dangerous situation and mass panic ensues which commonly leads to people being trampled by a stampede of people trying to flee and just plain chaos. Now down to an even smaller scale which is at the individual level. When we have an encounter with someone in which we are the target of their anger we can react which will escalate the situation and lead to everything we discussed in the beginning of the discussion. Or we can simply not react. We can just stay calm and not speak or become aggressive ourselves. The person directing their anger at us may keep doing so until they get it all out or they may realize that since we aren't going to react, it is pointless to continue on. In very rare situations they may try to escalate even further themselves in order to invoke a response from us but as long as we don't respond, we will have a clear conscious.

No matter the outcome, we will feel good about the situation. We won't waste any time trying to justify anything we did because we didn't do anything. We won't regret anything we said in the heat of the moment because we didn't say anything. We won't try to convince ourselves that we were in the "right" since there wasn't even a disagreement. We end up seeing that the situation wasn't even about us in the first place. We aren't the cause of the anger from the person who is "attacking" us, they were already angry before we came along. We just happened to give them a situation in which they could express the anger and we become the object of their anger. By reacting, it confirms to them that we are in fact the object of their anger and we then get infected by their anger which is contagious.

All emotions are contagious. Someone attacks you with their anger and you become angry.  Someone we care about receives good news and becomes happy, we become happy with them. We see a child upset and crying because they lost their family and became orphaned the day before Christmas, and we become sad with them. Since we have the ability to become infected with the emotions of others, we also have the ability to infect others with our emotions. Here's an experiment you can try. Find a person, doesn't matter who, and find a reason to get angry with them. When you find a reason to be angry with them, go to them and release your anger onto them and see what happens. Nine times out of ten they will become infected with your anger and give it back to you. Now try going to someone and share some joy with them. Find something that makes you extremely happy such as you just got married or had a child or got your doctorate, really it doesn't matter what it is as long as it makes you extremely happy. Go to someone and share your joy with them, tell them how happy you are about your news and how you are so happy that you just had to share the news with someone, and you didn't care who it was. They will become happy for you and with you, you will infect them with your joy.

Calmness in a way is the absence of emotions. When we are calm, we aren't feeling anger or sadness or fear or even joy. We are just in a state of peace and stillness. Calmness or the absence of emotions is also contagious. When we are faced with a situation and we remain calm, all of those around us will remain calm. Our calmness will infect others. If we feel emotions welling up within us, we can be aware of the fact that they are not actually coming from us but are in fact coming from those around us. As we remain calm and don't react to those emotions that are coming from others, we calm those emotions in those with whom the emotions are coming from. When we react to the emotions from others, we identify with the emotions, and they become "our emotions". Causing us to become infected with the emotions. 

If we think of ourselves as a serene pond with still waters and we think of the emotions of others as wind or rocks. We are able to see that even though the wind may cause ripples upon our surface, as soon as the winds stops, we are able to see the calmness that never left. If we become the object of someone's anger and they throw a rock into us, it may cause a pretty big splash and a lot of ripples depending on the size of the rock. When the anger goes away and the rock vanishes beneath the surface, once again all that is left is the peace of the still surface. When we react to the rock being thrown within our still waters, we identify with it, and we think that we are the rock, and we forget that we are the peaceful waters that the rock momentarily disturbed. By staying calm, we stay true to ourselves and our true nature which is the calm waters and see that the rock never had any effect on us at all. Love and Peace!

Free Will

Masters tell servants what to do, doctors tell patients what to do, parents tell children what to do, teachers tell students what to do, spouses tell each other what to do, religions tell followers what to do, self-help writers tell readers what to do, advertising tells everyone what to do, government tells working class what to do, the rich tell the poor what to do, friends tell each other what to do, and employers tell employees what to do. Should we keep going? Essentially, we could list this type of dynamic almost indefinitely.  

Makes you wonder with everyone telling each other what to do all the time. Is it even possible for free will to exist? When we are born, our family generally decides what religion we are going to be, so the majority of us don't even get a choice in our own religion. Our genetics and environment determine our character or persona. The wealth level of our family usually determines our wealth level in life. Often our parents influence the type of career we will have and the person we will marry. Our associates and friends influence our interests and hobbies. 

We are required to go to school and as an adult we are required to get a job in order to be alive. We need a job so we can eat, drink water, see a doctor and have a home. A huge percentage of us can't even make enough money from one job to eat, drink water, see a doctor, or have a home, so we usually go without one or more of life's essentials or are forced to work multiple jobs. If we are lucky enough, we are able to retire after studying and working our entire life. Assuming we haven't died, lost our mind, or been placed in a senior citizens home against our will, we might have a few years to do as we please. Which usually entails meeting other senior citizens to have coffee at Denny's since we're too old and frail to actually do anything exciting. 

At least we have all of our freedoms here in the United stated of America. We have freedom of speech; except we have to be careful what we say since it could be recorded, and we could face repercussions or punishment based on what we say. Not much of a "freedom" when we could be punished for it. How about freedom of the press? If you consider the fact that the majority of the media is owned by a select few and is heavily biased while truly unbiased media is almost non-existent, that wouldn't really be constituted as a freedom neither. Well at least we can all vote and have a say on how our country is run unless you're a permanent legal resident, convicted felon, currently serving time, or have a certain type of mental disability. A "freedom" should be equal to everyone otherwise it's just a privilege. 

How about the freedom to just exist somewhere? As long as no one owns the land you're existing on, otherwise you can get punished for loitering or trespassing. We also better make sure we aren't being too obnoxious in a public space since we might get punished for disturbing the peace. At least we have the ability to exist in our own home without being punished, that is unless you live with abusive people, or if you can even afford a home at all. Even then, there are laws telling us what we can and can't do in our own homes.   

We must surely have free will over our own bodies, that is unless you're a child, a woman, a criminal, or part of the LGBTIQA+ community. All that's left is our minds, surely, we must have free will within our own minds, am I right? Except we don't. Free will is simply a delusion within our minds. The majority of our thoughts, behaviors, and actions are dictated and determined by outside sources. We constantly hear everyone else's voices in our minds. That time a teacher told us we were stupid influences us to be "stupid" if we believed them or to prove that we aren't stupid if we disagreed. A parent who told us we weren't good enough influences our actions whether they be proving them right or wrong. How do we know anything about ourselves? We get the information from other people. It is other people who tell us who we are in order to shape and define us. 

The only ability we have to truly know who we really are is mindfulness and self-awareness. The vast majority of us lack any self-awareness whatsoever. Anyone who practices mindfulness and self-awareness will quickly realize that they don't know why they do anything that they do or why they think the thoughts that they think. The more self-aware one becomes, the more aware they become of the fact that no one actually knows what the hell they are doing. We are all a bunch of preset ideas and beliefs acting themselves out within human actions. 

Do you want free will? Do you want to know what it is like to be truly free? Do you want to know who you really are? Forget everything that you think you know, forget everything that you think you are, forget everything that you think you like or don't like, forget every idea you've ever had, and forget every belief that you hold onto. This is meant in the most literal sense, forget everything. Anything that you believe to be definitive. Admit you don't know anything and see what happens. Don't try to make sense of anything, don't try to explain anything, and don't defend anything. It is only by giving up your free will that you are able to see you never had it. When you see that you have no free will then you shall truly be free! Love and Peace!

Invisibility

Invisibility, a superpower for some, a curse for others. How does one gain the superpower of being invisible? The easiest way is simply by becoming homeless. The less material possessions one has, the less visible they are. The more material possessions one has, the more they are noticed, especially when one is in possession of fancy, shiny, and glimmering things. If you ever want to know what it is like to be invisible just put on some old ragged dirty clothes, wipe a little dirt on your face and go stand in the middle of a bustling city. You will truly know what it is like to be invisible. Most won't be aware of your existence, and some will give you a side glance but will have forgotten you within seconds. You may have one person offer to buy you food or give you money but you will know it's just so they can feel better about themselves and it's not actually about you.

There are other methods that can gain you the superpower of being invisible but they're not as easy. There's always physical disfiguration and severe mental illness. The trick is that most of us fear being homeless or disfigured or having a severe mental illness so when we see someone or something that reminds us of our fears, we avoid them, so we don't have to face them. All over this country (U.S.A.) cities are putting up anti homeless architecture and police are constantly destroying homeless camps. No one wants to see the homeless, so we force them into hiding. We tell ourselves we don't want to see them because the homeless are just drug addicts, mentally ill, or criminals. The part that no one says out loud is we just don't like to be reminded that we could end up the same as the other homeless. 

a 2021 study from the University of Chicago estimates that 53% of people living in homeless shelters and 40% of unsheltered people were employed, either full or part-time, in the year that people were observed homeless between 2011 – 2018. While there are homeless who are drug addicts, mentally ill, or criminals. The fact is there are plenty of homeless people who just ran into some bad luck and didn't do a single thing to deserve it. If we admit that, then we would have to face the fact that it could happen to us too and that's obviously too terrifying for the majority of us. *Side note: No one should be without a home even if they are a drug addict, mentally ill, or a criminal but that's another topic for discussion.

Does the idea of being invisible sound more like a curse? That's just your pride, it's ok, we are all born with pride. Pride is nothing to be ashamed of, but it also doesn't have to dictate your actions. Early humans adapted to be part of a community to survive. There is safety in numbers, easier to hunt and gather, and easier to build shelters and fire for warmth. For early humans being in a community was not only essential but also made life more enjoyable. One way pride gets in the way of the community aspect of humanity is to convince humanity that it is "better than others", so we accumulate as much as possible to prove the idea to ourselves. The more someone needs to be seen and heard, the more pride they have. That's why people who lose their home and become invisible become humble very quickly, the choice is out of their hands, society forces them to become humble, either that or their pride causes them to lose their minds. 

Invisibility is really only a superpower for people who are humble. For people with little to no pride, the idea of being seen and heard is uncomfortable and/or terrifying. If we go back to early humans, blending into the community was a good strategy plan. Look at antelope being chased by lions; the lions will usually grab the antelope who is separated from the pack being that they are easier prey. A group is much harder to kill than an individual. Humans who blend in and like not to be seen and keep to themselves are simply doing what humans have been doing for thousands of years. Which is not getting separated as to become prey.

For others among us, we have become invisible due to a neglectful upbringing or an abusive relationship. We feel invisible and don't want to be seen and yet, we are terrified of actually being seen by anyone. Many of us have social anxiety and are caught in a loop of feeling invisible while not wanting to be and being too scared to do anything about it. Therapy helps, journaling helps, mediation helps, that is if you want to get out of the cycle. Often times we are more comfortable just staying in our uncomfortableness than trying to change it which is completely understandable. 

There is no right or wrong way to live your life. People full of pride are just peacocking, trying to attract mates or be a leader or are dealing with insecurities. People who prefer to blend into the group are doing what humans have been doing since the beginning. People who feel invisible don't ever deserve to feel that way unless it's a choice they made.

 If you feel invisible and you don't want to feel that way, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU, YOU ARE NOT INVISIBLE! You exist and you aren't invisible. Not only that, but you are Loved so very much! I know it's hard to believe that anyone cares about you when there may not be anyone physically around you or you may not have anyone in your life. I know how alone you can feel at times, I know how hard it can be just to get up in the morning when you don't have anyone to share your life with, and I know how hard it is to just be alive. Noone ever deserves to feel alone. You are not alone, there are people all around you who care about you even if you can't see them, even if they don't ever tell you. You are not alone, and you are Loved! Love and Peace!