Olmecs and The History Channel

The Olmecs were an ancient South American civilization that predates the Mayans and Aztecs. We know almost nothing about them aside from aside from the fact that they made these enourmous stone heads, that have distinctly negroid features. So lets take a look at how both archeologists and The History Channel take this subject on.

First up, archeology. What do they deduce from the Negroid features? Well, since they know, yes, know, that people from Africa could not have crossed the Atlantic, then the features must not be Negroid. Yes, that is how it works, denial is king. They know no such thing, and instead of looking at this as potential proof of such a journey, they go the other way, the illogical way, because they don't like to have to rewrite history. Now, the history channel's narrator states that the Olmecs are the first structures society in south America, that they just walked out of the jungle and there they were. They state this as fact, despite knowing nothing about them. What I mean by that is this, we have no idea if there were earlier cultures. To be factual, it should be stated that the Olmecs (and if I remember right, we have no idea what they called themselves, we named them the Olmecs) are the earliest South American Culture that we know of. Oftentimes in this field, and especially when the media gets involved, 'facts' are thrown around that simply aren't facts. There may have been earlier cultures that we have yet to discover, or may never discover, that the Olmecs may have evolved from. If all we have from them are their megalithic heads, then who knows how many cultures were there before them that may not have made such lasting structures.

Now, since all we have are the heads, how do they make this subject last an hour? Well, speculation of course. So they have these huge heads, they know they moved them to where they are, and they have no idea how. So they start by talking to archeologists who tell them that we don't know how the Olmecs moved their heads. We have absolutely no idea. Followed by, well, maybe to speculate we should look at how other cultures moved large stones. Well the Egyptians moved their large stones with large amounts of slave labor. (Ok, problem number one. They did not. This is a theory that is thrown around but has been disproved over and over, in fact the idea that there was widespread slavery in Egypt is wrong, much less that they were used to move their massive stones. Simply wrong) So now let's take this wrong assumption and bind it to our current dilemma.  Now let's test this on much smaller stones. Hey, large amounts of people can move much smaller stones. Great, really doesn't prove or explain anything, but they can treat it like a discovery because it's TV. So, they come back from commercial doing just that, they state that they now know that the Olmecs moved these large heads with large amounts of human labor, as they have now proved. The wording is so important. If you don't know much about this stuff, you will walk away thinking that you know something you don't, because in essence, they are lying to you. They are telling that, that because a whole lot of people can pull a 1/2 ton stone a ways, that the Olmecs did this to move their 20 ton heads, they just used more people. There is no evidence that this is what they did. None. Yet, now, according to this show, Digging for the Truth, we now know how it was done. They don't state that MAYBE it could have been done this way, the narrator says, "We now know that they used many people to pull the stones along..."  But we don't. That is simply a lie.

When they come back, they are talking to an archeologist about how they moved the stones across the water. He tells them, clearly, that they have no idea. They speculate that MAYBE they used boats, but since absolutely nothing of said boats has survived, they can only guess. So with this guess, they make a boat out of the resources that the Olmecs would have had available to them. They barely get their ½ ton stone on three boats lashed together. On the up side, they did not claim that this is definitely how they did it, this time. But they then ‘did the math’ and stated that it would only take 14 much larger boats lashed together to hold one of the 20 ton heads. Yeah, only 14 boats. On top of this, they could barely get the ½ ton rock on the boat, yet clearly you just need more people to get a 20 ton rock up on a boat, right?

I admit, I find these shows interesting. They talked about a dig where they found the heads, and some floors of buildings they found and how one the heads was intentionally buried, a fact that I knew, but had forgotten. The problem with archeology, and oftentimes cosmology, is assumption. For example, the place where they found the heads is the center of the Olmec culture. This is what they state, yet, having found no trace of it anywhere else, how can you really say that. The same with saying that they were the first real culture in South America. They state this as if they know for sure, because it fits with their other theories about human migration. They, however, ignore the facts that don’t fit, like the distinct negroid cast to the heads, implying that they are not part of the typical migration into the area. This is the same behavior that causes Egyptologists to ignore the water damage to the Sphinx, because it disrupts their theories with those pesky facts. And then you let the media get a hold of this information, and it gets cast into a whole new light, despite the FACT that we know little to nothing about the Olmecs, we now have discovered all this new stuff while filming this show. We now know they dragged them like the Egyptians (didn’t) and they made incredibly massive boats to float them down rivers. Yet, despite having the know how to make these massive vessels, they never ventured off into the oceans or anywhere far from home, because people back then simply couldn’t. Despite the fact that I sometimes enjoy these shows, the problem with the misdirection of information, the lying, the assuming, makes them pretty useless. A casual viewer won’t know that, and then they will further on these lies and such. Some of these shows are worse than others. Some episodes are worse than others. So really, if this type of thing interests you, pick up various books on the subject, from various sides. Compare the information and make your own decisions. Sadly, like most other television, even the ‘historical’ documentaries are flash and garbage for the most part now.

Five Points...

So, I happened across this article on Digg earlier.

I felt after reading it, that it needed some commentary.

Number One, Lake Monsters. More often than not, I dismiss Lake Monsters. If one exists, ok, but evidence against them is rather strong, at least as far as what we expect them to be. That does not mean that people aren’t seeing monsters, just that perhaps they are not flesh and blood creatures, there may be a very good, and possibly more interesting explanation. However, number one holds some merit, good.

Number Two, Hoaxes. Also, good point, hoaxes at this point in time are so easy, not to mention the amount junk we have in our environment that may be misinterpreted. I find the UFO (read that as Unidentified Flying Object, NOT as Space Ship) sightings prior to our ability to fly sometimes more interesting because we know it couldn’t be us. There are plenty of those. Nowadays, hoaxes are so damned easy, and easy to make them look really good. So they are right that hoaxes are a problem, but they don’t argue against paranormal phenomenon, just a fact of culture and technology that it becomes a problem in determining real from fake.

Number Three, Unclaimed Large Cash Rewards. Here is where they lose ground. The problem with said cash awards is this, the die hard skeptics that offer them, make sure that no one will ever pass their tests. Of course they are unclaimed, they are more of a publicity stunt than anything else. If you live in New York City, and one day offer $100,000 to anyone who can bring you a live Moose in the next 5 minutes, good chance no one will, but that doesn’t mean that Moose are not real. Yet that is the logic of such cash prizes. Closed minded skeptics, like James Randi, mentioned in the article, will never see anything as proof. Nothing. Period. They have already made up their minds. No one will ever get the money, because no matter how much someone proves, it will not be enough. So on this point they fail miserably. This is not evidence against the paranormal, this is more a psychological exercise for the closed minded. Being an open minded skeptic is probably the best way to be, but a closed minded one will never learn anything new because they think they know it all already. It is not doubt that they have, but certainty.

Number Four, The Fermi Paradox. If we were to argue that space aliens were here, this may or may not add or detract from the argument. Basically, it is hypothetical. Everything in this point is hypothetical. What if. Sure, Richard Dawkins will tell you he is right, but that’s because he falls into that closed minded skeptic category. He already knows he is right about what he believes, so you can’t really make a point to such a person. Anyways, this is obviously an attempt to dismiss UFO sightings. Not only doesn’t it work on various levels, but any real analysis of the phenomenon does not point to ET, but something altogether stranger and more passive. And when that is comprehended, this whole point is, well, pointless.

Number Five, The God Helmet. This one is interesting. It proves that electromagnetic energy can produce interesting effects on the brain. This is a good point against the paranormal. Other things must be considered, though. Ok, so using this helmet can replicate certain paranormal mindsets. Feelings of others in the room with you, for instance. Two things must be worked out. One, are there? Just because we can’t see them in a normal state of being, by tweaking our brain, the brain in the case assumed to be a receiver, like a television, we tune to something outside the ‘norm’. Two, by pressing on certain nerves, you may feel like a part of you, which is not being touched at that time, is being touched. Does that mean that when it is really being touched it is just an illusion? Of course, you could go deep with this question, but I think we will stay on the shallow side for now. Research has been done that suggests that Ketamine can induce something that resembles a Near Death Experience. That is interesting. However, when someone has a real NDE, there is no trace of Ketamine in their system, so it really doesn’t work as a explanation, now does it? Just because something resembles the effects of something else, doesn’t mean that it is now explained. The people who did the initial research were pretty clear at the end that they did not think that Ketamine was in any way responsible for NDE’s, but that didn’t stop the skeptic army from eating that up and spitting it in everyone’s face. So, is the God helmet interesting? Hell, yes. Does it explain all spiritual states and paranormal experiences? Not even remotely. It is, however a tool that may be used for further understanding about the way our brain interacts with this reality that we share.


The problem with the paranormal is, for us to begin to understand it, takes a whole new concept of reality. As long as people try to squeeze it into our current conceptions of how things are, we will not understand. Our narrow belief in how things are does not accommodate many of these phenomenon, which is why you have people arguing that UFO's are space ships, while others arguing, that, despite the evidence of something going on that is causing these experiences, they are somehow not real (aka hoaxes, or hallucinations, or whatever). Both sides are operating in a narrow band of which the true UFO Phenomenon supersedes. That is what the term paranormal means, really. Outside the norm. Someday we may evolve the wisdom to understand many of these things, and then we will look back on what we believe now and laugh at how primitive we were...

Pieces and Perceptions

We perceive the world in pieces. This is something that doesn’t occur to most, but it is very true of everyone. We don’t see a complete picture, our brain selects what it will show us, and ignores 99% of the rest. It does this to avoid an overload of information. It is a useful thing, as we would never be able to process everything around us all the time. Because we process everything in pieces, though, we all perceive different things. There is an old story of the three blind men and an elephant. I forget now an exact version of it, but the basics will do. Three blind men are asked to describe an elephant, and one touches the trunk, one the body, and one the tail. They all describe three completely different animals. Yet, despite the fact that their descriptions seem completely wrong to each other, they are all correct in their perceptions. The large snake like trunk is just as right as the bulky large animal, which is just as right as the wispy tail. All three are correct for the pieces they are examining, and oftentimes arguments break out over differences like this. We may say that the one feeling the body is most correct, but that is not actually true, he is only correct for his piece. For someone with vision, their piece is different, they see the whole animal. It doesn’t mean that what they see is any more correct. People get caught up on things like this. People like to be right. And on some level our perceptions are always right. If someone says, “Hey, I heard something…”, and someone else says, Well, I didn’t.”, neither person is wrong. One did hear something, whether it was something outside them or something generated internally, they heard something. They are not wrong, but neither is the person who heard nothing. In another way, if I was to describe what I see, being someone very familiar with the insides of computers, when I open up a desktop computer, versus someone who has never opened up a computer and knows nothing about them, the descriptions would vary greatly. In fact, so greatly, that if you didn’t know we were describing the same thing, you may never realize it. I would be looking at something familiar and ordered, whereas the other would be looking at something strange and messy. Their brains would not isolate out what is important simply because they don’t know. This is true of all facets of life. Life is a selection of pieces. No one sees everything. We can’t.

If you want to take it a step further, what we all really see is waveforms. Vibrations. The physical objects we think we see are not what are really there. And since we can’t jump behind someone else’s perceptions, we don’t know if what we call a couch looks anything like what they call a couch. Their red may be our green, we just agree that such a vibration is the same. If we were behind their perceptions, we may see what we see as green when looking at something red. If that makes sense. Reality is agreement. Those vibrations are red. That is a chair. Somewhere inside our brains convert perceptions of waveforms to vision, sound, feel, smell, etc. We have no idea how this happens, but it does. Our reality is a loose agreement between us. Right and wrong perceptions mean that much less in that understanding.

We all know the type of people who think they know everything. You bring up a subject and they will comment or criticize despite their obvious lack of knowledge. Once again, though, this is a perception. When someone, lets say, less than very self aware, which is most of the planet, gets enough information to form an opinion, they then think, quite innocently, that they now know something about said subject. With some people, this is enough for them to comment, argue, whatever, but it falls to a level of perception again. There are subjects for which, if you look at them for the first time, one may say, well there is not much to learn about that. So they learn a little and feel like they have a grasp of it. The problem comes when the initial perception is wrong. They may have learned 5%, not realizing that there is another 95%, and will readily argue with someone whose knowledge of said subject encompasses 50%. No one can ever be at 100%. The assumption that ones knows more than they do it common. It usually takes a certain amount of wisdom to truly understand how much we all don’t know. This comes with age, sometimes. Too often, it never comes. A 22 year old who has some life experience thinks they know it all. It is common, and understandable from their perspective. They don’t realize that instead of 90%, they experience encompasses 2%. From their perspective, they have experienced a lot. From a 50 year olds’ perspective, they have experienced nothing. Schooling is not a substitute for life experience, but from the perspective of one who has had lots of schooling, they may see it that way. Look at all they know! Look at all they have been told and remembered! Unfortunately, only experience can gain a level of wisdom, remembering what someone taught you does not. Ever. We often dismiss elderly people, we think they have nothing of value to us, because they don’t get that the young already know everything. Culture may change, but that doesn’t invalidate experience and wisdom. Someone in their 50’s may really not understand why there are people who post their entire lives online. In detail. They may also believe this is a very bad thing to do. A kid doing it thinks that they don’t get it. That they are just out of touch. Until someone robs their house when they post online that they won’t be home for a week. Until someone starts easily stalking them because they are posting where and what they are doing every minute. Until they get turned down for a good job because of their facebook page. Until they get their identity stolen. Suddenly the wisdom of the 50 year old who clearly didn’t get it becomes a bit clearer. They’re had much more time to learn their lessons in this world. Good and bad. Their perspective is wider and richer than a 20 year olds’. You can’t skip that part of life, there is no shortcut. Life is pieces, at 20, your piece of perception is so much smaller than at 60.

For anyone who truly wants to understand other people, these things are mandatory. Understanding the difference in pieces and perception, and not trying to force yours on others. People care about different things, perceive differently, assess differently. The trunk of the elephant is very different than the body, but describing either still correctly describe part of an elephant despite their obvious contradictions. There would be far less arguing in the world if we truly sought to see the others perspective. To see what part of reality they are focusing on. One may say, hey that is red, and someone may pipe up and say, no, it’s magenta. Neither is wrong. The former is just focusing on the general color, the latter on the specific shade of that color. Yet an argument may break out about it. We share this reality, on loose agreement, and that is something we need to understand and accept, and remember.

In Silence...

Names have power. You can call those names again and again, and no one answers. The key is, it's not just the names, it's the passion behind them. The vibrations are different, and that is where the power is. Many things have been misunderstood through the ages, castrated in some cases. Turned into meaningless rituals, all passion carefully and completely removed.

It seems at times that the vibrations are stronger in the darkness. Maybe it is just a trick of the mind, perhaps it’s the absence of those burning rays from the sun. You call the names into the pitch blackness, powerful, and sometimes the black becomes liquid. To touch it, to feel that new substance is unique, yet comforting... At least to some of us. It can be a door, but beyond that door, there is no simple way back, not as you are.

It can be that demons torment us in our sleep. No, they torment us in our dreams. There is a difference. They chase us down dark hallways, through ever narrowing passages, and we think we manage to escape. We are the intruders though, not they. We are the ones reaching out our minds, they are not coming to us. What is it that we really fear in them?

I sat once, at the shore of a dark lake, full moon above, reflecting the cool perfect surface. I could hear them sing, faintly, off in the vast distance. I lost part of myself, crashing down to the rocks I sat upon. I watched omni-dimensional beings poke through the surface, begging me to feel, and lose a bit more...

Led into a cave, where the music was loud. So loud. They sang in such mesmerizing beauty, such perfection, and such sounds, like nothing one can really hear. They resonate with your soul. Reminding you of something long lost, long forgotten.

There is a tipping point. Between here and there. A tightrope to be walked. You can call the names, and bring it closer to you. You can risk it all, and move closer to them. Risky, though, as the demons are always lurking. Any doorway will do.

The moon can shake the sky, and balls of fire drip down like rain. Images in the sky are never what they seem, they are always hiding another dimension, another reality to themselves. There is a magnificent view from the tightrope. Startling. Ineffable. Our minds are limited, more so than we know. There in lies the pleasure of it all, the expansion, the limitless creativity and exploration. So often one in the same. From that tightrope, up so high, there also lie the trappings of madness. You have to be mad, to walk across at all. The fall, drops you to the furthest reaches of the abyss.

So call the names all you want. It is stale and hollow without the spirit of the thing. Without the fire and passion. Without the understanding. A dragon’s breath, however, opens doors, and a trek through the underworld is good for the soul. Torn to shreds, assailed from all sides, and worn through. Ripped away and left, dead and dying… as it should be. Learn the gates, learn the names, and learn the proper meaning of sacrifice. Else, say nothing. In silence. Remain.

Book Review: Graham Hancock "Supernatural"

Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock never ceases to impress me. That is not an easy task, and Supernatural, again, does the trick. I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this book, I had read very little about it, but knew that it had little to do with his previous works. One of the things that I admire about Graham is that he approaches things so open, with respect and wisdom. A sense of wonder is always present. He never gets so caught up on a theory that he starts losing his balance, he is very aware that he may change his mind further on down the road as more information comes to light. This is what is lacking in so much paranormal and fringe work. This piece starts off a bit slow, working its way through the various cave art around Africa and Europe, and discussing the various theories on what they mean. Where he goes from there is fantastic. I have always held that there are strong connections between the fairy faiths, UFO’s, angels and demons, etc., as well as occult experiences. However, I had never thought to add into that Shamanic and trance experiences. Graham manages to strip back yet more of the disguise, and show the connections between them all (not so much on the occult side of things, though). It expands on the ideas of researchers like Jacques Vallee, and manages to tie in even more of the puzzle. At no point does he, however, present you with a set theory or idea. He is not someone to push things, and that continues here. Graham explores the various ideas and research conducted on altered states of consciousness, and pokes around in some DNA theories, and tries to show, more than anything, the connections, and possible correlations between what seem like widely separated subjects. Also, not one to sit by and use other people’s work as a substitute for direct experience, he travels to see said cave paintings, just as he dove on undersea ruins, and traveled to lost cities for past books. He also experiments with various mind altering drugs, in order to really understand what he is writing about. His experiences and conclusions make it all the more valuable. Once again, he antagonizes the dogmatic, however unintentional, in an honest and open exploration of ideas. It’s something that science as a whole could benefit from. You don’t have to agree with anything he concludes here, or anywhere else, but he pursues his course with honesty and integrity. He is open minded and logical. He doesn’t shun science, but isn’t afraid to speculate, either. Well worth the hefty read. You may walk away with a new way of looking at the world...

Ancient Children

Age is such a strange thing in our society. It really is meaningless. I truly wonder if we were all unaware of our ‘age’, how it would affect us. Would two people the same physical age, be very different? Would one 70 year old be bent and decrepit and another still be somewhat youthful and energetic, simply because they didn’t have that definer to force them into a behavior? I mean, even with our age obsessed culture, you see people like William Shatner or Terry Funk doing things that people half their age can’t do, while other people hit 40 or 50 and look like they’re dead. What if we didn’t know? We all go through the opening for our lives, childhood, where we learn how to function and interact. Some of us do it better or quicker than others. And there is a point, where the body fails to reproduce the cells needed to survive any longer and we die of old age. But the mind is the power behind it, and a strong mind, creates a strong life and body. Some people seem to WANT to be old, so they can… I don’t know. They hit like 26 and start complaining that they can’t do things like they used to. In what sane world is 26 old and feeble? Seriously, at 26 you have only just begun your adult life, if you are having problems functioning, you are probably doing something wrong.

Then there are age limits. If you are 16 you can drive a car. You know, there are some 13 and 14 year old’s that I have met that could probably drive a car responsibly. On the other hand, there are people 40+ that should not be allowed near the driver’s side of a car. It’s ok though, cause they are old enough to drive. There shouldn’t just be a driver’s test, but a competency test, and maybe one that has to be repeated here and there just to make sure, because I am pretty sure that behind the wheel of a car is where some of the most stupendously stupid decisions are made. Age is not a factor. Age does not make you a good driver. How long you’ve been driving does not either. Yet, here is another example of how age obsessed our culture is.

I think what really ages us, is not years, but what we do with them. I look around, and I see the people who are ‘old’, regardless of their physical age, are the people who stopped learning. Stopped creating. Just stopped. Many of them as soon as they were done with whatever schooling they were involved in. The minute you stop delving into the new and novel, is the moment you start to die. So many people are caught up in their past. They still look at the world the same way they did in college or high school, and still listen to the same music, and even watch the same movies. Nothing against nostalgia, but if that is all your life is, you are on your way out. No matter how old you live to be. The people who keep going are the ones who don’t stopping learning and creating things. They have something to drive them forwards. They want more out of life, and age doesn’t present that much of an obstacle to them.

Grow up. A coupling of words people throw around easily. I think, however, the best definition of this, is that of responsibility. Not the responsibility of a house or kids or anything like that, but simply the responsibility for ones actions. A grown up is someone that is responsible for what they say and do. Most people never grow up, and in this respect, that is part of the problem with the world. Most people won’t accept blame when they screw up. It’s an insecurity that does no one any good. I find that no matter how angry I may be about something, if the person who is responsible just owns up to it, it tends to dissipate that anger… unless of course it’s something they do again and again, in which case it doesn’t mean much. It’s hard to be angry with someone who comes right out and admits they screwed up or made a mistake and apologizes for it. Being ‘Grown Up’ is not about what clothes your wear or what you do with your life. Being ‘Grown Up’ is taking responsibility for your life, and what you do with it. Really, that is all it is.

Unfortunately, we seem to live in a land of old children…

Lost as Ritual

Most people see only the small picture. Even when they think that is not the case, because really, most people won’t say that they only see the small picture, because it doesn’t sound complimentary. However, it is an accurate way of describing life, day to day. It is how human beings develop normally. Our day to day existence preoccupies us, and most people don’t look beyond it.

In order to truly be able to see any kind of BIG picture, you need a lead, someone to bring you along and initiate you. The reason being, is that with rare exception, you can’t find the big picture alone. It’s invisible. You can’t see the forest for the trees, oftentimes because you need help to get that full view. Initiation and Ritual are means to show that big picture. Now, today, mostly, these things are trivial. They lead to nothing more than people feeling special because they are part of a group. Often it’s used as an ego boost, to make individuals feel like because they belong to said group, they are better than others who do not belong. This is the draw of the secret society, or the religious group. The rituals are banal, and there is not concept of a big picture.

Lost. The TV Show, however, works as an analogy to this. The show starts small and ends big. At the start, there is no real hint of where the story will be a couple seasons down the road. You’re only seeing the trees. As the story evolves you learn new perspectives and new ideas, and eventually you realize that where you started was just a small tree. It is so rare to see something like this on a popular television show. Such media has always been relegated to short attention spans, but over the last decade or so, more shows have worked on this idea, but none with the ritualistic perfection of Lost. What so many people do not understand, is that you can’t skip to the end. Just like you can’t pick random episodes of Lost and understand them, true initiation, true ritual, prepares you to understand bigger concepts. Concepts that you can’t just skip to the point and understand, concepts that require those steps, because they ARE the initiation. Thus Lost becomes a symbol of what has been lost in our world. The big picture. Shamans and wise men who can really initiate someone into the bigger picture, are few and far in between any more. Wisdom isn’t dispensed like belts in Karate. Wisdom is absorbed and becomes a part of who you are. There are no awards or grades or certificates of Wisdom. There are no titles. In the end, seeing the big picture, comes only to the wise, who can not directly impart this to the people still lost in the trees. The gap is too big, and the road not seemingly relevant to day to day life. It is not something that can be labeled.

So to most, Lost is the closest they will come to understanding how that works. They may not realize it, but it’s there. Lost doesn’t just tell a story, it initiates you, it works in a ritualistic fashion to reveal the many secrets the story possesses. Secrets that would make no sense from watching just the first few episodes. And just like a true teacher, it brings up more questions than it answers. Of course, in our world, obsessed with gratification as it is, that can aggravate people. Questions are the key, being able to ask questions is key. Earning the answers makes them mean something.

Earth Day Thoughts

Earth Day Thoughts

Perhaps the biggest thing that people seem to miss when it comes to environmentalism, is what the real problem is. Quite simply, there are WAY to many of us. Everyone is so concerned about 'going green' and protecting the planet, but the truth is, it's too late to stop things. The tipping point was reached quite some time ago, and as we always do, we missed the big picture then, just as we are now. I don't think that anyone can honestly say that our filthy, polluting ways are good, but the biggest problem is how many of us there are polluting. We are over polluting because we are overpopulated. If we all died tomorrow, the planet would recover. In the end, no matter what we do, the planet will recover. So let's be more specific. The planet does not need us to save it, we need to save ourselves... from ourselves. And maybe, from the planet. There is currently not enough food and water to sustain the population that exists on this planet. With an exponentially increasing population, that fact is going to become more and more clear. This is not something that our reliance on technology can save us from. In the next few decades, this will be all too clear, and the next wars will not be over oil, but water and food.

Humans are still in the mindset that we have to reproduce as much as possible. This was true 6000+ years ago when the end of the ice age wiped out most of the human population. But in the last 100 years, we have gone way to far. And it's not that hard to fix in short periods of time. Consider, if every two people have one child. And of those children, every two have one child, ect., by the time we all start dying off, the population level will start to drop. We can't reverse global warming, but we can affect how many people are here at once. The problem is that so many people have multiple kids, because they want to, because they think they are supposed to, because they are too stupid to use birth control, because they love children, because they want a big family, and so on. But does anyone want a big family that will starve in a couple decades? Global warming is reducing our food and water supplies, and we keep making more and more people who are going to need said supplies. I get seriously upset when I see people with multiple kids, and people mistake that for me not liking kids, but that is not it at all. It is simple math. Too many people, too few resources, not enough space. I don't want future generations to pay for our selfishness. Unfortunately, they will. Because we will continue to act just the way we do, with people having 6 and 8 kids, because they want to, or are too stupid to figure out how not to. And within 10-20 years, overpopulation will be the big issue, just like environmentalism is today, and once again, it will be far too late to do anything about it, because we never learn to see the big picture.

Appreciation

Why the lack of appreciation. We have a fascinating world that we have created for ourselves, and most of us seem to only look to the horizon or beyond, and never look around at the wonder they have around them. Progress is always good, but to forsake the present for a phantom future is silly, just as silly to close future progress in the present. But a balance is not hard, not really. Appreciate what you have and move forward. Life should be lived, that is why we are here, after all. Christians live for Heaven, Buddhists for the non-existence of Nirvana, and on and on it goes. All looking for a reward later. Sad to waste what you have for something that does not exist. Religious or otherwise. To move forwards with blinders on will cause you to miss all the wonderful things that abound around you. Focused on just one idea, one goal, rather than the experience of what comes. As a society, we are failing, our leaders and others, conspire to limit our choices and freedom, to control all they can, and we, blindly, follow their path. Change starts within, we need to break the shackles inside that have created this reality, and make something better. Appreciate what you have. Live you life. Not so hard, really...

Dhamra

We are surrounded by rules and laws. Taught what is right and wrong. And yet, these things can never be absolute. No law covers all situations, no rule allows for all things that could be happening. Yet, the simple truth is, that inside we all know what is right. And by right, I do not refer to a simple black and white separation of things, because all things are relative. There is an old Sanskrit word, Dharma. There are volumes of ancient literature written about this in India. And in the simplest form it means 'Right Action'. That is an individual perspective in all cases, and something that does not always follow logic. We all have access to this sense, yet most people are taught to ignore it. Perhaps because it can not be controlled by written laws and rules, and that is what those in power want to use to keep their power. It doesn't matter in the slightest, however, what they want, you can always open yourself up to it.

In any situation, you have that sense of what is the right thing to do. Sometimes it may logically seem like the wrong thing, however, it is the thing that takes you where you need to be. Crowley coined a phrase; Do As Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law. Simpletons made this to be you can do whatever you want. Wiccans corrupted it to be; Do as you Will, but Harm None. But that is not what it means in either case. It means to follow Dharma, in this case identified as Your Will. Crowley also said that Every Man and Woman is a Star, in this case meaning that everyone has their own Will to follow, and that we all follow our own orbits and paths.

Staying true to this path is what one needs to be truly satisfied in this existence. It does not mean you will be happy all the time, it is not some magic formula that unlocks paradise, life is about contrast, and experience, of all kinds. You can get knocked down, and you can keep getting up, ideally, one more time that you can get knocked down, and although it may be hell during the time you experience it, you learn much about yourself in the aftermath, you can even feel good about it after the fact. We exist here, inside time, but outside of this world, we also exist, and there, we are outside of the confines of time. That part of us knows what it wants and where it wants to explore, and it can see from a much wider perspective. But that part of us, is not conscious here. However, we can get a sense of which way we should go from it, from that part of us that can see so much more, that can see to a further horizon. Dharma. And, what it truly becomes, more than any dogma or organization can create, is faith. It is true faith, because you know, in a sense that can not be spoken, in a sense that can not be taught, where to step.

Even sensing it does not mean that we will not cave into our egos now and again and do what we know we should not, that is also a part of life. Our lower selves conflicting with our higher selves. I think that a big part of the problem our society now faces is that lack of connection to a higher self. Without that, we will fall to ruin. Written laws can not help us. Obeying material, lower senses does not help us, it does not take us where we should go, and it does not allow us to grow. We all need to be able to trust in ourselves with a faith that can't be shaken. All of us. No matter how much you feel that that description fits you, you can always be more connected than you are. The conflict between above and below is meant to be, it is healthy, it is where we find out strength and our weaknesses. It is where we learn more about this being that we have spent our lives creating. Are you proud of your creation? You should be. But it can always be made better. There can always be more. There are always new heights, new challenges, new mysteries... There is always something more to create.

See, it is simple. It is honesty with yourself, honesty with others follows that naturally. It is the faith to close your eyes and jump, because you know you should, rather than giving into the fear of not knowing what is there that you are jumping into... Rather than having to look to a church or organization to see what they recommend. It is freedom personified. We make our world what we make it. I don't think it would be hard to make it more interesting than it is now, do you?

Love Under Will. The separation of opposites below the abyss, the contrast that brings the world into being.

Seriah Azkath
Demonic Host Lurking in the Shadows...


"I need to be alone tonight
Smother me or suffer
Lay down I'll die tonight
Smother me or suffer
When I'm gone, wait here
Discover all of life's surprises
When I'm gone wait here
I'll send my child my last good smile

If you pass through my soul tonight
Gather all his troubles
Tomorrow's long eternal night
Gather for tomorrow
When I'm gone wait here
Discovers all of earth's surprises
When I'm gone wait here
I'll send my child my last good smile"

- Fields of the Nephilim "Love Under Will"