Adaptation

Humans' ability to adapt to any situation is pretty impressive if we think about it. We can adapt to anything. We can adapt to being abused, tormented, beaten, tortured, and imprisoned. We can go through hell with events such as war, famine, loss, drought, natural disasters, fires, floods, strong winds, and earthquakes. We can adapt to grief, fear, hate, guilt, shame, and misery. We can adapt to our bodies drastic changes whether it be from puberty, or severe weight gain or loss, physical disabilities, paralysis, loss of limbs or appendages, birth marks, body disfigurements or mutations, and impediments. We can adapt to any physical disease including cancer and HIV. 

We can adapt to severe mental illnesses such as but not limited to depression, anxiety, cptsd, schizophrenia, and compulsion. We can adapt to living in any kind of environment with any type of conditions, we humans are spread out throughout the world in almost every environment. Humans can live down in the dirt in the dump with no money all the way up to the tallest penthouse mansion in the world with billions of dollars and everywhere in between. Humans can adapt to new ideas, belief systems, laws, and rules. 

What doesn't kill you will make you stronger. As long as we are not dead, we can and will adapt, it is human nature. Since humans are able to adapt to anything at any time in any circumstance, it begs the question. What are humans so afraid of? Why do humans spend so much time and energy worrying about "bad" things that will probably never happen but even if those things did happen, the person who wasted so much energy worrying would naturally adapt to whatever the new situation is that they are so afraid of only to realize that they are fine and they were able to adapt.  

In America it would be very easy to end up in medical bankruptcy and lose your job only to end up on the street without a home. Shit happens. Should we waste our time worrying about it? What good does that really do? If it happens, which it probably won't, but if it does, we will adapt plain and simple. Will it be fun at first? No. Will we be happy at first? No.  Will we wish we weren't homeless? Yes, but that doesn't mean we won't adapt to our new situation and find our way out. It's either fight your way back out of homelessness or give up and be the happiest homeless person you can be who spends their day spreading joy and asking nothing in return.

There is no reason to be afraid of anything that may or may not happen in the future. Either it will kill your body, in which case there was nothing you could do anyways, or you will adapt. With enough time anything can become normal and comfortable. There is nothing to fear. Love and Peace!

The Rule-Maker

As a child I had rules forced upon me. These rules were always made by the rule-makers a.k.a. the adults. Most often the rules imposed on me by adults didn't make any logical sense. I, as well as most children just assumed that adults were a little wacko and were people who just like make up rules for the fun of it. Adults were usually not very fun to be around, always telling you what to do and what not to do. Clean your room, brush your teeth, don't pick your nose, go to bed, and on and on. Not to mention, within adults there are a lot of perpetually angry adults whereas with kids, the perpetually angry kid was rare. I learned to zone out the adults and I would play with other kids. Children have this universal comradery where we all share the same experience, the experience of having rules forced upon us that we didn't understand and weren't even allowed to ask about. We couldn't question the rules, only follow them and be punished if we didn't. Being with other children felt safe, whereas being with adults you never knew when you were going to get into trouble next or what new rule was going to be imposed.

As a teenager I started to rebel against all the rules, I found it harder to just ignore them like I did when I was a child, the rules seemed to just be stacking up endlessly. When puberty come around, I got introduced to a whole new encyclopedia of rules. The insecurity from confusion and fear surrounding puberty makes us kids turn against each other and we lose our comradery that we had as children. Going into the higher grades in school resulted in even more rules and expectations. I started to do drugs, drink, and commit crime as a way to fight back against the oppression that was assaulting my individuality from all sides to make me conform to society. I became very angry and bitter that I was being forced into this world of slavery, oppression, control, dominance, and servitude. 

Anxiety and depression start up in high school do to all the pressure that I'm always under to not fuck up. For a few years after high school, I have some fun with my life. For the first time in my life, I was considered an adult and now that I was an adult I was free from all the rules. It made perfect sense to me as a child that since adults were the ones who made the rules that obviously meant they couldn't also have rules. I lived in beautiful and ignorant bliss for about four years or so. Then I couldn't keep reality at bay anymore and had to admit defeat. I was forced to open my eyes to the obvious fact that even adults have rules too. Adults Love to make rules to control those who are deemed less than in society. 

I was an adult who had rules about how to act in society, manners, how to speak to people, what to wear or not wear in public, what to do, and how to be. Worth a mention that I was raised in a religious home who worshipped a god who was the ultimate rule-maker. Cptsd, generalized anxiety, severe depression, and a whole host of other mental illnesses is what the next decade of life is like for me. I felt trapped. I felt lost. I felt hopeless.

Midlife crises came along around the age of 38 or so. I have followed the rules my whole life and what has it given me? Nothing but the knowledge that this will just be my life. This is what life is, get born, go to school, go to work, maybe have a few years to retire then die. That's just how it is. Except I was lied to by the adults, I was made to believe that If I followed the rules and did what I was supposed to I would be able to have my own home someday. Yes, I rebelled from time to time but honestly who doesn't? Of all of my friends from high school only a couple of them own a home, most of them are still living in shitty apartments or with their parents. I was told I could have a home; the reality is there aren't any affordable homes. I am part of a generation that was told we were going to get a prize for following the rules and yet the prize has been ripped away and we were told to just get over it.

Somewhere along the way I started making rules myself. I would make rules for me, rules for other people, and rules for everything and everyone. I had become a rule-maker. I was a controlling, selfish, angry, and bitter rule-maker. I had become the thing that I hated most as a kid; a rule-making adult. One day I say fuck it. This world doesn't give a fuck about me, so fuck it, I may as well just do whatever the fuck I want to and stop pretending to be sorry about it. I become myself, I become who I was always meant to be. I become who I would've been if I hadn't been forced to live in a society that suppresses individuality. I become unapologetic, authentic, and genuine. I no longer lie to myself, or others and I no longer carry around shame or guilt. I am no longer a rule-maker.

By giving up my role as rule-maker and letting go of everything that I was supposed to be and everything I was supposed to do. I found my genuine self. Throughout my journey I had found God, thought I lost God, rebelled against God, and then found God all over again. I have come to see all the beauty in the world and the interconnectedness and oneness of all beings. Life is beautiful, life is precious, and life is worth living. One thing I have learned through all of this is that if life doesn't feel worth living, it's due to life being lived unauthentically. When life is lived authentically and genuinely, it becomes a precious work of art that's filled with beauty beyond human comprehension.  

I consider myself lucky. I get to relive my life. I get to start over. I get to keep all of my knowledge that I have acquired throughout my life and was born again into a new life with a new name. I am no longer a rule-maker and now I see adults for what they are. Adults are children trapped in adult bodies who are trying their hardest to be rule-making adults to fit in with all the other so-called adults, but who deep down just want to play and have fun and are too scared of getting punished for breaking the rules. Love and Peace!

The Plants Around Us

Plants have evolved to use any and all species to their advantage. We know that plants attract insects to use as pollinators. We know that plants use carbon dioxide that is exhaled by animals. We know that plants produce burs which attach to fur and feathers to spread seeds. We know that plants produce good tasting fruits and vegetables for all sorts of species to enjoy in order to spread their seeds even further. Plants live a lot longer, use less energy, and can survive drought and famine far better than most other life forms.

Have we considered that plants evolved to have certain effects on humans in order to ensure their survival? Plants with healing properties for humans tend to not go extinct. Humans tend to keep around plants that help them. When a plant has a healing property for us, we ensure its survival by continuously planting it and helping it grow.

Some plants such as tobacco have addictive chemicals in them to ensure their survival. The fact that tobacco contains an addictive substance has ensured that it is a hugely successful species; Humans have chosen to cultivate the plant because of the nicotine, and indeed make sure that weeds and pests may not interfere with its growth. Without the nicotine, tobacco would probably be considered to be just a weed and would not be nearly as successful. The original 'purpose' of the nicotine was probably to poison its natural enemies, which unfortunately it also does to its human cultivists.
Chris Wright, Twickenham UK

Some plants have the ability to get us "high" or to make us "trip". Marijuana is considered a weed, hence once of the names for it is weed. With marijuana legalization happening around the world, the plant is having exponential growth throughout the world ensuring its survival. Let's not pretend that marijuana being illegal ever did anything to get rid of it. It is a very popular plant and has been ever since it's discovery in early human history. Just because some people were afraid of a plant and made laws to try to stop it, didn't mean that they actually could. The hemp plant itself can be refined into a variety of commercial items, including paper, rope, textiles, clothing, biodegradable plastics, paint, insulation, biofuel, food, and animal feed. Hemp is so useful to humans, that it has ensured that as long as humans are around so the hemp plant will be also.

Plants smell pretty, look nice, have all sorts of properties that help humans and are soothing to be around. Humans believe that we are using plants when they are the ones using us. They've been around longer than we have, they know what they are doing. If they didn't want us to use them, they wouldn't let us. They would make themselves so unappealing to us that we would never want to go near them again. We know that Certain plants have innate pest-repelling properties. For example, research has found that some marigold species, catnip, and chrysanthemums contain phytochemicals that prevent insects (including mosquitoes) from feeding on them. If plants wanted to repel humans as well, they would find a way and it wouldn't even be very hard. Love and Peace!

The World Beneath Our Feet

The world beneath our feet is teeming with wildlife. Ants wonder around the moss field just as the lions roam the savannah. The ants pay little attention to the gnats passing by just as the lions pay little attention to the hyenas. A bumble bee wanders over to get a drink from the puddle just as the elephants get a drink from the waterhole. All the clovers, flowers, mushrooms, and grass are like the trees and plants in the forest to the insects. The beetle walks around in his armor same as the rhinoceros. There are insects that came in all shapes and sizes just as the animals of our bigger world do.    

There is a whole world beneath our feet that we remain oblivious to. To focused on our own sized world. To focused on our "problems". The "problem" of what to wear or what to eat for dinner are insignificant and meaningless tasks that we occupy our brains with. When we take the time to watch the world below our feet, it puts our "problems" into perspective. There is a whole world of insects below our feet who go on with life as if we aren't even here. To some insects we are just a source of food the same way chickens are just a source of food to us. We are no greater than the chicken to an insect.

We do everything we can to try to eliminate insects. We zap them, burn them, squash them, smash them, poison them, swat them, and despise them. Yet, they remain seemingly unaffected by our actions. We are just as much of a nuisance to the insects as they are to us. Insects as just as vital to this world as we are yet we can't seem to just get along. Insects are just living life the way they were made to live it. Insects are indifferent to humans. Humans on the other hand are annoyed by insects, humans are afraid of insects, and humans think insects are insignificant. 

Insects play an integral role in this world and without insects in this world, nothing else would exist. Instead of fearing insects we could take the time to get to know them and who knows what we may discover. We may get to see an insect clean its antenna just as cats clean themselves. We may discover that some insects like to cuddle and are actually pretty sociable. We may discover that some insects like to play fetch just as the dogs do. We will never discover anything about insects as long as they remain something insignificant that is beneath us that we should fear. We fear what we believe to be different. If we take the time to get to know insects, we may discover that they aren't so different after all and there really is nothing to fear. Love and Peace!

The Curtain

Steve, which is the name I go by, is my character in this world. Characters are how we know who is who in this world. How we tell each other apart. We all have a character in this world, some traits were given to us by others and some we added because we liked them. Some are genetic dispositions. If we imagine our character as being the mask in the land of Oz, who would be the person behind the curtain controlling that character.

From my perspective in my life, I am who is behind the curtain, but I have no curtain anymore, I am just out and don’t have a use for a mask anymore. My mask was my character who I personally identified with. I forgot that I was the person behind the curtain and thought that I was in fact the mask. When I told people not to look behind the curtain, it's not because I'm mean, it's because I was terrified of looking behind the curtain myself. I had no idea what or who I would find back there, it was dark and scary. Because I was the person behind the curtain but had forgotten and thought I was the mask, and I knew that if I found out the truth that I would disappear. Which was true, when I finally worked up the courage to look behind the curtain, I just found myself. The mask disappeared because I quit controlling it.

The mask disappeared but the person behind the curtain did not disappear. It's the same person that could be seen through the mannerisms hidden within the mask just without all the added light, sound, and special effects. Now the person behind the curtain is able to relax and take it easy. Most of the world still sees my mask and refuse to acknowledge or even see that I am not behind a curtain and have no need for all the endless desires of the egoic mask. The person behind the curtain, who I truly am, cannot be named, cannot be defined, cannot be labeled. Not because it would be breaking some law or rule but simply because once the person behind the curtain gets a name, that name can become a new mask to hide behind, same as with any label or definition.

The person who used to be behind the curtain but is no longer behind the curtain and no longer has any use for masks can see masks for what they are. A show, an act, and a desperate act of fear. The person that came out from behind the curtain is able to see how much easier life is outside the curtain, they see how much time and energy got wasted trying to maintain this mask they hid behind. They have no desire to get another mask and going through all the exhaustion of maintaining another one. In turn they avoid labels, names, and specific descriptions since those are all things of the egoic mask. The mask has no benefit whatsoever and they feel no need to feed it in an attempt to make it real.

No more need for shows of size, force, strength, courage, or anything else. The desire for everything comes from the giant mask we all have to maintain 24/7. When we leave from behind the curtain and come out into the real world and no longer have to work 24/7 maintaining our character we can finally relax and enjoy our peace and quiet. 

We laugh at all the time and energy we spent trying to keep everyone believing that our character was real. It’s the type of situation where you realize you did something so incredibly stupid that there is nothing to do but to laugh at yourself due to the ridiculousness's of it all. Then you wander around the real world enjoying your rest and relaxation not having to maintain the character anymore while watching everyone around you hiding behind their curtains while their mask is yelling at you about how they are for sure real but whatever you do… DO NOT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!

A lot of the human population has a mask in which they think they are, a lot of people simply don't realize that they are the person behind the curtain. There are no bad people behind the curtain, the mask we control can be good or bad. From my personal experience the people who have had the courage to come out from behind the curtain are a small percentage. Once you come out completely from your curtain you can see those who are still living behind a curtain and those who aren't. You can also see the people with one leg in and one leg out just trying to work up the courage to make the final jump. 

Some people will stick a leg out from behind the curtain or take a quick peek and get scared and go back in. Since they got a peek at what's on the other side of the curtain and got a glimpse of how good it is, they usually become some sort of spiritual guide or something along those lines. They help guide people on the spiritual path as a way to have their own mask talk to the person behind their own curtain a.k.a. talking to themselves subconsciously through guiding others. We all do it.

Since the mask isn't real it has to try to prove its existence in any way possible which is why its greatest mission is not letting us look behind the curtain. The person behind the curtain has no need to prove their existence and can just enjoy life once they give up the mask. Peace and Love!