One of my favorite thinkers of the 20th century. Especially his synchronicity concept. This and other ideas are ahead of their time. Interestingly, he had a 30 year mail correspondence with brilliant Quantum physicist Wolgang Pauli in regards to his synchronicity hypothesis as well as many other fascinating concepts. The link for the book of letters below.
On the New Yorker magazine website, I recently read about top nano Chemical Professor and Senior Director at a Rice University lab - James Tour. His lab is the 4th biggest in the world in graphene patents - the relatively new wonder nano material - super strong and highly conductive. Interestingly, he signed the 2001 Dissent from Darwin paper based on doubts of how the supposed 'random mutation process' is still not fully understood in spite of all the confident tenured professors and Darwin dogma enthusiasts projecting Evolution Theory as a done deal. See links below.
I have been trying to think of a holiday essay that would be upbeat and full of holiday cheer but based upon recent events in my country and media I have absorbed lately - it is a challenge! Firstly are the shootings of unarmed black men by the police that have been going on for a long time but have obviously reached a tipping point and have tipped into big protests all across the country - which is a good thing. It's rare to see the young people get organized and off the couch into the streets since Occupy a few years ago. Yet I do not see the plight of young black men being fixed anytime soon based upon the fact that ugly prejudice unfortunately still remains a significant barrier to progress in this matter.
Yet like intelligent Basketball Hall of Fame's Kareem Abdul Jabaar pointed out - this battle goes beyond race and actually has a lot to with socioeconomics because millions of Americans of all colors and backgrounds - including whites are suffering in a weak economy where crappy wages or part time work or no work at all keep folks from having a half way decent life - never mind the idea of actually getting ahead! Thus the racial tensions are high because folks are struggling and it creates a dog eat dog mentality. All this happening on Main Street while the top 1% plutocrats on Wall Street are making billions living oblivious in their ivory towers on Park Avenue, Aspen, Palm Beach, Silicon Valley etc.- biggest profits in history - and they (huge corporations) refuse to pay a living wage! The Walton family that owns Walmart are a perfect example of all that is wrong with America. All the siblings are multi-billionaires while 30% of their workforce are on Public Assistance aka Welfare aka US tax monies. How much money does one need? This question is as old as greed itself and it seems that it is as much as is possible, like a psychological sickness - even if it means the destruction of the planet and all the creatures on it.
Then I see a decent documentary, but not great - on dvd. Discovery channel production of Stephen Hawking's Grand Design documentary - where he proposes that God does not exist because time did not exist before the Big Bang - therefore no God. This is a huge assumption based on a lack of scientific knowledge on what existed before the Big Bang. Never mind that an omnipresent-omnipotent God who has possibly created multiple universes and all that exist within them - surely does not rely on one dimension for its presence! Also it seems that if you title your show Grand Design - this implies a designer! I read Stephen Hawkings classic book on physics for the layman - A Brief History of Time - many years ago when I was young and enjoyed it and learned some things. In it he kept an open mind about God referring to it as Einstein did - as some type of mind/intelligence that may or may not exist. Something happened since then - because he is very definite about where he stands now - no time - no God! What is disturbing is his influence in the secular Academic realm that seems to be dominated by similar thinking scientists who believe the world to be a big accident - with no meaning and based upon a material reductionism dogma that has ruled for far too long. His argument about time not existing before the Big Bang and even within Black Holes is weak scientifically. Black Holes are his supposed specialty which he has built a career on. But it cannot be proven definitively until we send some type of device into one and determine once and for all what is going in beyond the event horizon.
Then I just finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by best selling popular teen writer and vlogger John Green. Very intelligent but depressing book about young folks with cancer. However the book leans mostly in the secular - everything is a freak accident and nothing really matters vibe. Mr. Green packages this hopeless non-spiritual attitude neatly within a tragic cancer tale of young and dying star crossed lovers. I believe the existentialist angst experienced by the young cancer victims is symbolic of the human condition - the great mystery of mortality and legacy that many do not think about until they are older. I get it. And making us all aware and empathetic of the plight of people dying from cancer or any other disease is a good thing. But regardless - the book makes God out to be a rip off - and I know this not to be true in my heart of hearts. We will never comprehend the infinite grandeur that is the universe and the workings thereof, but one thing I and many others know - based on intuitive faith - is that GOD IS NOT A RIP OFF! We must trust that God knows best - respect the mystery and trust that God has our best long term souls' interests as part of its program - whatever that may be - it's none of our business.
Our business according to all the great prophets and sages of history is to love and respect one another and live in harmony with nature. Humans are still primitive in their tribal associations - institutions and thus divided - mostly over what Messengers/Prophets/Sages said what, when and where. Gems of wisdom on how humans should behave toward one another come from all cultures around the world. Wisdom knows no boundaries in the human family. Therefore let's not get hung up on who said what - let's focus on what was said! God can speak to and through all of us if we set up our cosmic soul antenna properly and hone in on God's frequency - usually through prayer or mediation. We are part of the cosmos - literally made of star dust that has evolved to the point where we can contemplate our maker - pretty cool and humbling if one has any humility to start with.
IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE AND LEARNING TO LOVE AND LOVING TO LEARN! TRUE EVOLUTION REQUIRES THIS JUMP IN CONSCIOUSNESS. LOVE IS THE GLUE OF THE UNIVERSE! THE LOVE YOU FEEL FOR YOUR PARENTS, SIBLINGS, SOUL-MATE AND FRIENDS CAN'T BE PUT UNDER A MICROSCOPE BUT IT IS AS REAL AS THE SUN!
We are living in schizophrenic times. The USA and many other countries are polarized more than ever before in recent history. This dangerous polarization of millions of peoples is being exacerbated by modern technology. Many studies have revealed that the new communication technology strengthens old family and friends connections but has weakened new networks from happening.
The huge media corporations like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. have developed super advanced data tracking algorithms that only feed you what you like or agree with - therefore reinforcing many of your ideas regardless of whether or not they may be right or wrong. Without a healthy dialog, folks of differing political camps are becoming more and more antagonized toward one another. If this keeps up - civil wars may eventually break out.
The stratification between rich and poor has grown so rapidly over the last 20-30 years - that the average citizen still does not realize the huge discrepancy between the incomes of the average worker versus the top executives of the big corporations they work for. Around 30 years ago top execs of the fortune 500 companies used to make 20-30 times the lowest paid employee - in the past 30 years - that has risen 3-400% to now where they now make 200-400 times the income of the workers!
Many factors have fed this fat, greedy, growing beast of the mega-rich .001% of multi-billionaires around the globe that basically run the planet at this point. The opening up of the world markets, mixed with ridiculous US tax breaks/loop holes and government subsidies for the top corporations, and a broken democracy/coporatocracy combined with a pathetic, fickle US electorate, where only around 50% of the citizens vote - have all contributed to the current oligarchy we all live under - regardless of what country you reside in.
A relatively recent, perfect storm of distractions via the new media technologies have also contributed to a fragmented citizenry that has become powerless in spite of the potential of using these sophisticated tools of communication in a people's revolution, as the world witnessed in the Arab uprisings just a couple years ago. Back in February, 2003, the biggest world wide protests ever in history, organized via the internet - against the US/West invasion of Iraq - where millions organized and marched in cities around the world - was a huge example of the power of modern communication technology to try to make a difference for the better and speak truth to power - the will of the people. Unfortunately - the US and its allies did not heed the united world people's call to avoid needless war and invaded Iraq, which has lead to the ongoing sectarian wars, ISIS and current huge mess 11 years later.
This perfect distraction storm happened quite rapidly. Mass use of cell phones only appeared on the American horizon in the early 2000s. It was only a few years later when the smart phone explosion began with the blackberry, followed by the i-phone. Now people had a small computer combined with a phone and all that information/games/social media/advertising/sports/crap etc. etc. that the internet enables 24/7! This has led to a world of people walking around like gadget addicts - constantly looking down and nervously thumbing their smart/dumb phones - seemingly searching for fulfillment the gadget will never provide.
So here, we the people of the world are now - slaves to the machine. It is a double edge sword. It allows people to stay in touch and spread ideas over great distances as I do here in this blog, written in NYC and broadcast to the world. Yet - as the advertising via personal data is how the corporations make fortunes now, they are in the process of selling our important consumer data to the highest corporate bidders outside of advertising - such as insurance companies, and even the US NSA secret service agency (Big Brother)!
Our personal information is no longer safe or ours. Especially if you consider the rise in hacking of big shopping stores like Target and huge supposedly safe banks like Chase. Even our identities and credit ratings via credit cards and bank accounts are up for grabs by the most cunning douche bag hackers - who just want to be rich like every other greedy piece of shit.
So the potential in the new technology is there to unite the world's peoples and actually do something as in a real workers revolution against the multinational corporations that now rule the planet and are destroying it and dragging us all to hell. This can be done - via safe separate networks/servers but people are so busy and distracted yapping, sharing selfie pics, playing video games, shopping, watching sports or porno - that we are more fragmented and weaker than ever before. Sophisticated algorithms are destined to separate us even more by not exposing us to the others points of view. The actual nightmarish breakdown of all polarized, fragmented societies is bound to happen sooner than later if citizens do not start to use and exploit this technology for some kind of peoples 99% revolution, rather than being used and manipulated by it (1984).
Power to the People! Do something! Don't be part of the problem - be part of the solution!
Decent and disturbing documentary about the 80,000 man made, toxic,
untested petrol based chemicals unleashed upon the world by creepy
corporations - post WW II. Skyrocketing cancer rates and a myriad of
other chronic illnesses that have exploded in the last 30 years -
coincidence or correlation? Hate to be a Debbie Downer but we need to
face reality and demand that all these chemicals be properly tested for
safety by the EPA and FDA ASAP!
Disagree that God is dead. In fact God is very much alive. Yet Nietzsche is still brilliant in spite of his non-belief in a greater source. His point is that worshiping science is as inane as worshiping religion. In that sceince may be able to describe things and processes but not explain the deeper meaning of why things exists in the first place. Therefore secular science cannot be a replacement for truth and meaning seeking as in spirituality. Science is a dead end in this respect.
Honor and integrity are in short supply nowadays. Politicians and scientists in particular have a huge influence over the course of human events. Irresponsible no-integrity sellout Scientists especially have the ability to do severe damage to humanity and the earth itself. A puppet politician with limited intelligence can only do so much damage to humanity and the world but scientists can invent/create things that can potentially destroy everything in existence!
The thing that both entities have in common are the rich corporations and the elite evil 1% that run these corporations that pay them. Both politicians and scientists sell their souls to in order to be part of the bourgeoisie and take care of their trophy wives, 3 kids, a McMansion in the suburbs, two cars (SUV) and maybe a boat etc. Some call it the American dream - but the toxic products these scientists create 24/7 to make their corporate bosses happy are more like the American Nightmare - for all of us!
You can run but can't hide from nuclear power, GMOs, potential virus releases under weak lab protections, insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, 80,000 toxic, cancer causing chemicals - only 200 of which have been tested for safety, fossil fuels and all the pollutants that go along with them - plastics in our landfill and our blood, tons of toxic industrial waste and pharmaceuticals in our drinking water (blood), nuclear waste in our blood and seafood from testing bombs and Fukishima, Japan's reactor melt downs, and on and on the list goes. Brilliant writer Kurt Vonnegut wrote the book Cat's Cradle about ice-9, a toxic man-made chemical spreading rapidly and destroying the world in its wake. A dark comedy of errors otherwise known as the Human Condition.
I have chosen to feature here three examples of high integrity and goodness and three of no integrity and straight up selfish evil characters. Political figures and Scientists from each side of the divide of good and evil.
Let's start with the good. I will mention in historical order. First on the list is one of our founding fathers - elderly statesmen, entrepreneur and inventor Benjamin Franklin. Ben Franklin was a co-writer of our constitution and the only founding father with his signature on the 5 core documents that created the USA. And if not for the French people, and especially King Louie's love of this man, and his willingness to aid Washington's Revolutionary army near the end of the fight for independence from Britain - the USA may never had happened. I mention this self-made, super successful man of high integrity for just one of his inventions - probably the most important in terms of conservation of nature in America - the Woodstove - otherwise known as the Ben Franklin Stove. A much more efficient heating/cooking device, rather than the traditional and very wasteful fireplace where most of the heat energy goes up the chimney. The power/heat source in the colonial days was firewood - from felled trees. However, the rapid spread and adaption of his Franklin Woodstove saved millions of trees from being wasted and or chopped down. All of our countryside could now look as barren as England's, which used up most of their trees over the last couple thousand years (pre-fossil fuels). The big, not-greedy, high-integrity, unselfish aspect of this story - is that Mr. Franklin did not pursue a patent on his brilliant, yet simple invention that millions quickly converted to. He openly admitted borrowing ideas from Europe and figured that the country would benefit from it, and the name recognition would be satisfactory for his healthy ego.
Now let's shift to the dark side. Another more recent statesman - Dick Cheney - two time Vice President to President George W. Bush and executive head of Halliburton Fossil Fuel Corporation with tentacles in many dirty energy endeavors all over the globe. Dick worked his way up the neo-conservative ladder from all the way back to the Nixon Administration. This man is straight-up evil. However - he may be psychopathic and not even realize how evil he is. He is so steeped in denial of his evil actions that he has no remorse for being the top driving force that led America in to a needless and stupid ongoing war with Iraq - longest in our history. He pulled the strings and manipulated the top brass behind the scenes of the government and hyped false information/lies such as Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and the uranium cake from Africa story. He even had the nerve to link Iraq to Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks - and many actually believed him! This creep was another mediocre student from the Yale club. Yet he comes from humble roots in the Midwest. Thus his huge destructive and relentless ambition to become super rich and powerful - with no regards to anyone else but himself. Well he definitely has succeeded, but at the expense of millions of lives world-wide. Mr. Cheney, and by proxy and collusion President Bush are guilty for the totally unnecessary deaths of around 5000 American soldiers with thousands more paralyzed and or mentally damaged, 250,000 innocent Iraqi civilians and the ruination of millions of lives in Iraq (and Afghanistan). The big selling point of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan was to make the world safer from extreme Muslim terrorists. The opposite has happened - there are now more terrorists world wide than ever before. However, this was probably the intentions of Dick Cheney and his cohorts at the American Enterprise Institute, and amongst the Military Industrial Complex to have a new US enemy post the Cold War. These new secular 'Crusades' have worked out splendidly for these evil imperialist creatures that pretty much run the world and derive much power and monetary fortunes from ongoing perpetual wars (1984). I would love to be able to witness Dick Cheney's day of reckoning with God. Because if there is a God and I am 110% sure that there is - justice will be done on Dick and all the other evil Dicks out there.
Let's lighten it up now with a brilliant scientist who literally gave away his greatest achievement to help make the world a better place. I am speaking of Jonas Salk, discoverer of the cure/vaccine for Polio. Polio is unlike most deadly viruses because it not only kills but paralyzes those who contract the disease and survive. Of the many controversial vaccines ever created - this is one most can agree is a miracle cure for an otherwise totally debilitating virus. Jonas Salk was a good, unselfish man. He could have patented this cure and made a fortune - but he gave the world the cure seeking no monetary ($) award. He humbly and righteously said "There is no patent, could one patent the sun?".
Back to darkness. Dr. Frizt Haber was another overly ambitious man. Mr. Haber was a brilliant chemical scientist who eventually won a Nobel prize for his figuring out how to extract nitrogen form the air, which later gave birth to the synthetic fertilizer industry, and is one of the main reasons for the population explosion in the 20th century. Mr. Haber was Jewish - although he was by no means a religious man - in fact like many scientists he rejected religion completely. His negative actions in life were a reflection of this dismissal of any guiding moral authority. He was also a German citizen who worked for the Kaiser during WW I. His work led to the creation of Zyclon-B, one of the first chemical gas weapons used in WW I and later in WW II as the poison that would kill millions of his fellow Jews in the Gas Chambers. Supposedly he also drove his wife insane (literally) as well. This guy had lots of bad karma.
Back to the light! Here I will mention two personal scientific heroes of mine who were contemporaries during the mid 20th century. Clair Patterson and Rachel Carson. Mr Patterson was a Geo-chemist and Ms. Carson was a Biologist. They were also the first Scientist environmentalists. They were folks of high integrity who never sold out to evil corporations and the evil men that run them. Clair Patterson is actually famous for discovering the true age of the planet after many years of hard work and perseverance studying meteor rocks with the latest technology of the time. Only later in his career did dedicate himself to the study of toxic lead (man-made) found in the atmosphere, land, water and oceans. Until his work drudging samples from the sea and digging from ice caves around the world - it was thought that ubiquitous lead levels were natural. Mr. Patterson discovered they were not. Many products on the market such as gas for cars and household paints were made with toxic and deadly lead in the early to mid-20th century. It was a huge, dirty and nasty industry that tried to bribe Mr. Patterson not to pursue his work on poisonous lead levels in the environment. He refused based on his good conscience, solid character and scientific knowledge that lead was very toxic and dangerous to all animals health. For 20 years he kept up the fight and eventually ended up testifying to congress. Soon after his solid science on the matter was presented to the government, federal laws prohibiting anymore use of lead products were established. Rachel Carson was another great scientist that fought to ban DDT around the same time - a pesticide she discovered caused cancers in the lab and therefore were harmful to humans as well. She wrote of her findings in her seminal book Silent Spring, which really influenced the near future environmentalist movement that led to Earth Day, the EPA and major federal anti-pollution Clean Air & Water Acts in the early1970s. Because of the mass use of this nasty pesticide, corporate resistance was strong but common sense won out and the DDT was banned from the market. Imagine how much more toxic pollution would now exist if not for the courage and strength of character of these particular scientists and all the environmental activists that heeded their call? These are the types of scientists/heroes the world needs more of!
The most recent battle of corporations trying to suppress science for the common good are the Fossil Fule Corporations. The UN council on Global warming and the top climate scientists in the world have been telling us for over 30 years - that based on ever increasing Co2 levels from fossil fuel use, a green house effect is causing global warming and thus extreme weather events, the polar ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising accordingly, which will cause many major Geo-politcal problems in the near future. Yet leaders are reluctant to act in the West and China because they are beholden to corporations who manipulate the politicians like puppets on strings to promote and secure their greedy 'profit by any means necessary' evil agenda. Unfortunately, history repeats itself over and over again. Do we ever learn? Apparently not.
Bringing up the creepy and evil Fossil Fuel industry is a perfect segue into our final bad character, 0 integrity scientist. He is Professor Joel Kostca, a micro-biologist who sold his soul to BP - British Petroleum Corporation. In wake of the desperate clean up after the nightmarish BP oil spill in 2010 from the Horizon deep water drilling station (connection to Halliburton as well!) in the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Kostca was hired by BP indirectly as a valid scientist via a multimillion dollar donation/grant to the Professor's branch of the Georgia Institute of Technology. He went on a paid for PR media campaign and claimed (fabricated a hypothesis/lie) that bacteria in the sea were eating up most of the 170-200 million gallons of crude oil spilled (continues to leak to a lesser extent). The real truth is that BP used and continues to use a toxic chemical dispersant called Corexit - outlawed in their own country, to break up the huge floating oil slicks into little bits that have sunk to the bottom of the gulf and formed a huge oil island. To add insult to injury - even intelligent President Obama sold out during an election season and said the Gulf was clean and back to normal. It all adds up to deception because of the sickness of greed and lust for power.
Finally - what kind of scientist or person are you? Do you have integrity? Do you have a strong character and sense of right and wrong? Do you care about things outside yourself? Time is of the essence and we all need to do something to alter our unhealthy toxic consumer behaviors and fight the corporations that want to keep the status-quo, and drag us all down to hell with them. Speak truth to power! Fight the good fight. CS Lewis was right about the fact that there is an epic battle of Good and Evil being waged on this earth - which side are you on?
Please watch these excellent documentaries. Our democracy is broken
and 'We the People' must organize and demand that it be fixed ASAP. We
need major campaign finance reform/amendment to overturn the Citizens
United Supreme Court Decision - and have no more big money in our
election cycles. The future for the USA could be great but it won't be
if the current plutocracy/oligarchy is not torn down for good.
To ask a majority of working, tax paying people to tighten their belts and "do more with less" as did the last mega-rich (5-25 billion over 3 terms) mayor of NYC - Michael Bloomberg, right before leaving office a year ago - is an insult to anyone with a shred of intelligence and sense of economic justice. He said it in response to not making union contract deals for over 3 years in the city, even though the city had billion dollar bonus surpluses for several years in a row. The new progressive NYC Mayor De Blasio has been making up for lost ground and is in the process of making contracts with the various city unions. The Department of Education in particular finally got a new contract this year, albeit with some regrettable concessions.
I am writing as a teacher in the New York City public school system who is fed up with giving up hard earned benefits that took over a 150 years of blood (literally), sweat and tears to make a reality. The recent ridiculous last minute rejection of the teachers contract in Philadelphia because of the health benefits is the latest example of the strapped state and city governments sticking it to the public service worker. Why are state and city budgets so tight? I will get to that in a minute.
All workers in America benefit from the worker's rights struggles over the last 150 years here in the US and even further back in Europe. Rights most now take for granted by most such as the 40 hour work week, safety in the work place, over time pay, no child labor, guaranteed breaks, sick time pay, due process and essential benefits such as health care and pension plans. But these hard earned rights, fair wages based on inflation, health coverage, and retirement plans in the form of pensions are quickly being eliminated from the picture by powerful private industry influence. What do the government politicians and the super rich executives who control them like puppets expect working people to do in retirement, never mind right now as far a living wage and health care are concerned? Do they think that folks can live on minimum wage ($7.25) or later on the meager Social Security payment plans, which average out to what are considered poverty scale salaries- 12-20,000 per year? This is peanuts - and the hard working, retiring middle class majority of peoples have paid their 35% taxes and SS/Medicaid etc. fees every week for 20-30 years, only to have all these hard earned living wages and benefits eaten away by special interests via their puppet representatives in federal, state and local governments. These ambitious, sell-out, no-integrity politician puppets will later get cushy high paying jobs as lobbyists, who in turn will do the future dirty work of the evil corporations - and on and on the corrupted cycle goes. That is unless we the people do something about it ASAP!
The median income in the US is around $30,000 in 2014. This is a cruel joke for anyone who has even one child never mind two or three. Just do the basic math of a bare minimum existence and one can figure out quickly that the only way that one can achieve the basic American Dream is now impossible. The dream being to eventually be a home owner, or least be able to house, clothe, and feed your children and help them get through college. This lesser, working class renter version is not even possible now without going into huge debt on several levels.
The current nationwide debt for college costs is over a trillion dollars+. The interest rates on graduate school loans in particular are anywhere from 8-14 %. That is 3 times higher than the rate to buy a car or a home at around 4%. Bankers will claim that it is a bigger risk - but the law is now on their side because college loans can be deducted from your paychecks if necessary. Conservative economists predict the next big economic crash will be tied into this growing higher education debt quagmire/nightmare.
The bottom line is that all education should be free, paid for by our tax dollars. Education should be a right and not a privilege for the few or mean indentured servitude for the many to big banks, private colleges and now the government with unreasonable tuitions and greedy, blood sucking interest rates. It stinks to high heaven. But this blog is about austerity in an age of billionaires and US workers ongoing high productivity.
Productivity in the US has been steadily growing over the last 30 years, while wages have stagnated or gone down for the majority of Americans (see links). This is not a good mix. In the meanwhile the top 1% of earners have quadrupled their fortunes - going from being millionaires to billionaires. How much money does one need to be happy? Obviously these top earners 1% are suffering from some kind of greed sickness. They sit on billions and do not pay decent wages (export jobs), provide pensions or reinvest back into society. And since they will not or simply do not have enough time to reinvest it - it is necessary for them to pay their fair share of taxes as in a Buffet billionaires tax. Warren Buffet, one of the top 10 richest people in the world - made a smart and honest observation a couple years ago about how his secretary pays more in taxes (around 35%) than he does. After all the tax breaks and loop holes for the super rich - they barely pay any taxes. Most of these super rich are rich mainly on paper as in stocks. Rich presidential hopeful Mitt Romney finally admitted that he only paid around 15% tax. This is the capital gains stocks tax and the current low rate for it is around 15%. An all time low if you consider that it was once 90% during the two term Eisenhower administration during the 1950s, which was a period of explosive growth and wealth creation in our nation's short history.
This low rate of 15% is irresponsible if one considers that we have been in 2 very expensive (3-5 trillion & counting) wars for the last 13 years. These wars were not payed for - we went trillions more into national US debt and rely on autocratic countries such as China and Saudi Arabia for loans to pay off just the interest on our own federal loans to keep the government floating. It is truly ridiculous that Bush II made them (capital gains tax) so low and that current President Obama does not push hard enough to bring them back up to at least later Reagan/Clinton era levels of the mid twenties. The late 1990s was the last time we had a healthy economy with low unemployment and a federal balanced budget under President Clinton. Balanced federal budgets are a rare thing in our country's history. Yet many of Clinton's deregulation(s) and international trade deals (overseas cheap labor and new markets for US to dominate) such as NAFTA helped put us in the current economic mess the US is in post the 2008 near total collapse of the stock market/economic system.
During a time of high productivity and record profits for the top 1%, government officials (federal, state & local) as puppet mouth pieces for the top 1%, who basically run the show at this point - have the nerve to constantly cut budgets for teachers, firemen, police, and all kinds of civil service workers who keep this country running smoothly. Have you ever lived in a city when the transportation broke down from a natural disaster or when civil service workers go on strike? How about sanitation workers not picking up the garbage for a couple weeks? All work is good work. I do not understand how Wall Street workers deserve million dollar bonuses for playing casino with old folks retirement monies, while teachers, firemen, police and garbage men have to continually battle to keep hard earned benefits and a decent living wage.
Everyone's work contribution to society is important. Yes - the street sweeper is important, as is the doctor. But If the streets are filthy - disease runs rampant and there are already not enough doctors to deal with such a scenario. Yes - supply and demand dictates our reality but I feel that there has been a steady and growing disrespect for manual labor as well as other professions that used to get more respect such as teaching and social work. People who are not in unions are often disparaging against them based on brain washing corporate media who are openly hostile toward unions because it threatens their personal billion dollar worth. Uninformed people obviously do not know the long history of the ongoing battles for workers rights and fair wages. This country is based on checks and balances and if you are ready to hand over the entire operation completely to the corporations, then you are ignorant, myopic and not thinking in terms of what's best for the entire country and need to educate your self (see Links).
'We the people' need to stick together. They (the creepy powers that be) love it when we are at each others throats in situations such as in Ferguson, MO where racial tensions are high. The reasons are historical endemic racism mixed with a bad economy. The US is becoming a stratified country where the police (white in Ferguson) are themselves struggling to survive. Whereas the marginalized black communities always have twice the unemployment levels as whites to put things in perspective. The winners of the new world economy are the top executives of big corporations who profit greatly while the losers are the US workers who are left in the dust to fend for themselves. This creates a perfect stressful pressure storm for all citizens that leads to divisions among 'we the people'. Yet citizens would be much more powerful united rather than divided. If one goes by the huge success of the Gofundme campaign for the white officer who shot the unarmed, young black man in Ferguson, MO and the ongoing black protests - it's obvious there is still a serious racial divide in our country, regardless of a two term, first ever black president.
Let's quickly examine some of the main reasons states and cities who rely on federal tax revenues have ever shrinking budgets. As mentioned earlier - 2 Middle East oil wars that cost the US $ trillions, and the super rich 1% not paying fair share of taxes based on the low capital gains tax rate, tax loopholes, offshore corporation incursions etc., all sucking billions of tax revenue dollars from our country. These rich idiots have no allegiance to anything but the almighty dollar. Yet they made their fortunes within the US infrastructure, paid for (taxes) and built by all US citizens. All these creepy, greedy shenanigans by the super rich 1% and the ongoing US war on 'terrorism' (in cahoots with the Military Industrial Complex), which has only created many more terrorists - are some of the core reasons workers are getting the shaft on many levels - as in austerity measures.
Austerity measures during WW II were necessary and made perfect sense. It was a collective effort of all Americans to make sacrifices (food rations), conserve and or donate/collect certain materials (alloys etc) and resources to help the war effort against fascism all over the world. But now, in 2014, to have the gaul to ask any of the struggling American working peoples to 'do more with less', while the top 1% are making fortunes - is not only an insult but makes me downright angry. Revolution is the thought that comes to mind. When the politicians are more concerned about the interests of a tiny minority of the super rich 1% versus the basic quality of life issues of the majority 99% - we no longer have a democracy for and by the people, but a plutocracy geared toward a tiny elite of around 400 families out of 317 million citizens. Something is drastically wrong with this picture.
The only way it is going to change is if 'we the people' - all working people - from all backgrounds - get off our couches and organize. We need to get into the streets and commit acts of civil disobedience. Just marching alone does not change things as we have sadly learned from past huge protests such as against the 1999 Seattle WTO meetings, the 2003 world wide marches of millions against the US invasion of Iraq, which happened anyway, and most recently in September, 2014 the 400,000 million strong People's Climate March here in NYC that received little corporate news coverage (not surprised), and seems to have done little to force any real change at the UN Climate Change meetings.
Therefore, as written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 -
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their own future security."
In sum - F-U to any puppet politician trying to push any austerity measures while the rich get richer and American worker productivity is high. Enough is enough! Lets get corporate money out of election cycles! We need a constitutional amendment to undue the Supreme Court's huge blunder and blow to democracy - Citizens United decision. Until we fix our broken democracy, things will not ever change for the better. We will never get the best and brightest, but only have the current crop of no-integrity sell-out puppets who use our government as revolving door to a cushy, corporate, million-dollar lobbyist job. Sad but true - so do something now! Raise awareness, organize and rebel!
Here is a video by a respected genetic scientist who is not beholden to any corporations and known for his integrity in a 40 year career on Canadian Public Television.
This issue of income stratification is very important and needs to be addressed/discussed more often in the USA. Actions as in fair incremental taxes (capital gains) are necessary to redistribute the ridiculous wealth that a small fraction of the top .0001% have recently accumulated. They made this crazy wealth (billions) off of world wide casino stock market speculations and unrealistic over evaluations, and off the blood, sweat and tears of workers around the world as in cheap exploited labor working for poverty wages. Wages have stagnated for the middle class over the last 30 years - post Reagen revolution of empowering the corporations to the detriment of ordinary citizens - the 99%. Since the opening of world markets - paper shufflers and now digital market nano second traders rape the system for everything it is worth while 3rd world children work 12 hour days and live in squalor. There is a direct connection if you do your research.
The Market system is an illogical and corrupt economic model. The market defies basic physics and engineering principals. You cannot continually take from any system based on work/energy (movement of resources), while at the same time not putting enough liquid assets$/fuel/energy and not expect it to break down on a regular basis - which it always has and does. And the taxpayers/citizens - 'we the people' always pay the price as in trillions in tax payer bailouts in one form or another over the last 200 years. The current, stupid, supposedly free market system has a built in crash factor - that even Jamie Diamond - CEO of corporate monster bank JP Morgan Chase referred to in a matter-of-fact way to the congress during the all-for-show congressional hearings post the crash of 2008. The crashes happen based on evil casino-like over speculation and illogical financial investments such as derivatives and the predatory lending mortgage schemes/worthless assets that moved around like musical chairs until the inevitable crash of 2008. Did any of the culprits involved in making the crash happen get prosecuted - NO. Eric Holder, our Top Attorney General failed miserably - therefore Obama failed because Holder works for the President, who did not make it a top priority as he should have. Watch this great recent Bill Moyers interview with an expert bank regulator William Black. He mentions how many were prosecuted during the Savings and Loans scandals in the 1980s and that was during a Republican administration! Yet none were after this most recent financial crisis that nearly brought down the entire system!
I am personally fed up with the stagnation in my own wages as a teacher in the NYC DOE. Have they gone up over the years - yes. Have they kept pace with inflation - NO. I made as much as I do now - (after taxes and union dues) in 1983, working as a bus boy at a fancy restaurant in Connecticut! That is pathetic and just plain wrong. We the People need to organize and demand that the super filthy rich pay their fair share as in a Warren 'Buffet' tax. Capital gains (stock market taxes) have been an irresponsible 15% during the last 12 years of wars put onto our multi-trillion dollar US debt bill. 15% is about half what they were during the latter Reagen administration - Republican mythical hero!
If something does not happen soon - you can see the cracks in the edifice already with protests by blacks based on police killing unarmed black men - but the issue is a much deeper one based on have-not poor folks of color and barely surviving whites that manifests as racial tensions and murder. These tensions are surfacing based on people not getting living wages in America - the richest country in the world. The white hegemony 1% loves it when we the people are at each others throats - this is how it has always worked, all the way back to the divide and conquer tactics of the Roman Empire, later written down by Machiavelli his evil little book The Prince.
One only has to look to history to see where this ends up now that average citizens are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Does the French Revolution of the peasants and working poor or the Russian and Chinese Communist Revolutions ring a bell? Look what happened to Marie Antoinette and The Romanov's. In a country of 300 million guns and ever increasing numbers of the angry working poor, many of whom posses fire arms - things could get very ugly unless the our government takes action and passes legislation to close tax loop holes, not allow corporations to move overseas as in inversion crap and make the mega-rich pay their fair share of taxes! This needs to happen sooner than later - so contact your reps in congress and the president himself and demand they do their jobs and redistribute the wealth that the super rich are sitting on like sick greedy geese on golden eggs - time to share the profits with the workers and the free country they made their fortunes in - The USA!
Check out these links about Nobel Prize winner Thomas Piketty who has done a scientific break down of all that is wrong with modern capitalism in his book Capital in the 21st Century, and basically says we need to raise taxes to even the playing field. And a Mother Jones article released a couple years back with colorful charts exposing the growing Inequality in America. And Billionaire Nick Hanauer's banned Ted Talk about how the rich do not create jobs. And Berkeley college Professor and former Clinton staff member Robert Reich's excellent documentary Inequality for All is a must see - although it leaves out some important factors such as stagnant wages via illegal immigration and the major negative implications of President Clinton ending the Glass-Steagall Act, which led to the crash of 2008. Then watch the funny but informative John Oliver clip from his HBO show. Another more recent link/chart sums up the post President Ronald Reagan/Donald Regan era multi-national corporate take over of America post 1980s. Republican puppets reducing taxes for the rich 1% and evil greed (stockpiling wealth in banks and sending work overseas for cheap labor) leading to stagnant wages for average US citizen. The rich 1% better redistribute their fortunes soon or else or hell is going to break loose in historically violent America!
The Following is my response to an annoying anachronistic 1950s material determinism secular paradigm "talk" by a typical tenured American college professor - that is no longer valid in a quantum universe as well as the fact that even though Darwin's theory is pretty solid - there are still holes that need filling as in valid scientific proofs that have yet to materialize. The link to the NY Times Op Ed article is below - followed by my response and some links I provided to back up my arguments.
I was amazed that you actually
think that all the new scientific findings have reinforced many of your
old archaic arguments that disregard anything that questions Darwin
dogma or lends itself toward old theories like complexity - which could
now be referred to as Intelligent Design (ID). I feel you have not kept
up with a new wave of brilliant young and old scientists and thinkers
who humbly admit their ignorance to the big questions like where
consciousness comes from or what happened before the Big Bang.
Brilliant
people such as Freeman Dyson and Roger Penrose - two of several Quantum
Dynamics founding fathers and Dr. Francis Collins - Human Genome
Project Co-Chair - have allowed for a greater source or mystery and are
able to do great science as well. Then there are very progressive
iconoclasts thinkers like Cambridge's Rupert Sheldrake (biologist) with
his Morphic Resonance hypothesis, Physics Professor Amit Goswami at
Eugene U of Oregon with his top down East meets West perspective, or pop
guru Deepak Chopra MD (biologist) with his similar concepts on pure
consciousness being the core of life itself and NYC educator Christopher
Meesto Erato's Sto-ology philosophy bridging the gap between the sacred
and secular - is a new incredible scholarly work with 800
references/500 links to peruse. These are just a few (check out links
below) of the new thinkers who are open minded enough and sharp enough
to see the weakness and contradictions in the materialist determinism
paradigm that has dominated science for too long. The Western
reactionary swing to extreme secularism post the Enlightenment makes
sense based on the dark history of the Catholic and Protestant churches.
Darwin theory is pretty solid but there are gaps and yet
unexplained fits and starts in the evolution of species theory. Weak
concepts such as Stephen J. Gould's (obviously your hero) Punctuated
Equilibrium, which does a good job describing the mystery but offers no
solid causes. But the cracks are widening based on new science - quite
the opposite as you say in your 'talk' you give to your young
impressionable students. Your talk is no longer acceptable, especially
considering the scrutiny of ridiculous weak theories such as Hamilton's
Inclusive Fitness coming under fire by giants such as Harvard's E.O Wilson because
the numbers don't add up and additionally what has been recorded in the field since
1960 by scientists using new tech such as camcorders displaying
altruistic behaviors in nature among st animals of different species
never mind third cousins - completely opposing Hamilton's core concept -
relegates his long dominant hypothesis in biological evolution theory
to the dustbin of history.
Then there is the
overwhelming amount of new evidence supporting some kind of intelligent
design as in symmetry on every level from the micro to the macro. The
fine delicate balance of the 4 known forces that allow for life as we
know it. Our Goldie Locks position in this solar system. Many now
believe math itself to be pre-existing before human's discovery like
electricity. The fact that I need to write a long email to you in WA
where you teach - tenured I am sure - and that the out of touch editors
at NY Times printed your op ed - annoys me frankly. Professors such as
yourself make me think tenure is not a good thing. The evolution of
thought continues with or without you. I suggest you check out some of
the links below (Deepak vs Dawkins etc) and catch up on what's going on
out there. Paradigms do not go easy but it is time to open the dialog
about the holes in Darwin's theory. The burden of proof is now on the
old guard (bio-materialist/determinist) to back up these weak aspects of
the overall Evolutionary Adaption theory with real science.
This banned Ted Talk featuring Cambridge Professor Rupert Sheldrake, famous for his concept of Morphic Resonance - sums up a growing discontent amongst many brilliant thinkers about the limited, contradictory, and illogical thought constructs of the dominant paradigm in secular scientific circles of material determinism.
Here is an update link - the UN Panel about catastrophic changes coming - yet still small time window to make a difference - everyone must do something - organize groups, protests, voting, petitions and civil disobedience when necessary! Do something NOW! Or eles the future looks bleak.
I was there and it was awesome! Really nice energy. I met lots of interesting, caring people from all walks of life, from all over the country and the world. The turnout was fantastic - more than triple the estimate at around 400,000! Now it's up to the leaders at the UN Climate Conference to do something - as in action now! The US and China are notorious for not signing any binding agreements. Please let your reps in congress know you are fed up with the status-quo of inaction. Demand change for a better future - free of fossil fuels! Green Energy equals less Co2 emissions and much needed good paying jobs for Americans! Let's do this!
All God's creatures share the same metabolic rate based on their mass. This is called Kleiber's Law - named after Swiss guy who discovered it in the 1930s. From cells to fruit flies to mice to humans to blue whales! Cosmic! More proof of intelligent design. It ties directly into how many heartbeats all creatures have in a lifetime on average - 1 billion! This despite heart beat speed differences and life spans!
Twerking has been around for a while - years now. Many Americans who live in the suburbs or rural areas, or do not see what their kids are watching on youtube may not have known what twerking was until young, white Miley Cirus caused an uproar at the 2013 Mtv Music awards bending over in front of one hit wonder Robin Thicke.
Fast Forward to Mtv awards 2014 - basically a big booty review starring Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azelea and the queen of hyper-sexuality performance Beyonce. It was all total spectacle Broadway cheese - meets strip joint performances, with plenty of leg spreading and butt twerking, and horrible, forgettable music. Probably why they need to bend over so much to cover up this reality.
Beyonce even posted a big lit-up feminism sign behind her with a female voice justifying using sexuality as a power tool because men have done it - so why not? Well two wrongs do not make something right. I never liked it when Michael Jackson grabbed his crotch and if you watch his last performances before he died - he hardly did it at all compared to when he was young and maybe using poor judgement as a performer. I love Michael Jackson's music and performances but nothing would have been sacrificed artistically by his not grabbing his crotch. Surely his doing it was a reaction to people around him controlling or trying to control him and his career - all his life growing up in the spotlight. Bottom line - not necessary and bad influence on young people.
Are these women with their hyper-sexual performing, with dental floss bikinis going up their butts and provocative videos with millions of hits a good influence on young women and girls? Is this feminism or objectifying women?
Using sexuality as power is a dangerous thing. There has been a huge rise in STDs and unwanted pregnancies over the last 20 years, with little if any sexual education in public schools and the onslaught of urban twerk/hump dancing which leaves nothing to the imagination. For God sakes the next step is actually just doing it on the dance floor. The historical reasons that have led up to this point are complex and I shall not share my ideas on this blog - at this time.
We need to have a dialog because this is not healthy empowerment of females or a good influence on young males. When A young person - female or male sees this type of twerking dance, with half naked women singing about material crap - it cannot be properly assimilated into their young, ignorant, hormone-driven brains, which have a tendency toward impulsive ill behaviors that are later regretted (unsafe sex=STDs/pregnancies) and negatively influence guys toward acts of violence against women (rape etc). Yes - this is the reality that you will not see on Mtv.
These popular female performers such as Beyonce and especially Nicki Minaj who has little if any discernible talent other than bending over or spreading her legs - are a bad influence on young people - women in particular. Hopefully it is just an unhealthy trend and will die a quick death - so maybe music will get back to music as the main focus. After all, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston never had to get on all fours - why? Because they had real class and real talent.
I have attached a very intelligent rap called Mu-sick from a young urban woman who tells it like it is when it comes to the contemporary so called pop music scene.
Workers of the World Unite! If it sounds familiar - you know your history. If not, you should learn about the long hard fought battles of workers to earn basic rights as in a 40 hour week, overtime pay, safety in the work place, and child labor laws. Unfortunately most public schools in America hardly touch on this important subject if at all. I suggest the late Professor/Activist Howard Zinn's magnum Opus - A People's History of the United States as a starting point. Here's the link to Amazon.
These early workers rights movements following on the heels of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and later in America are the reason we all have some basic working rights today. Americans should learn about the Pinkerton Guards - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_%28detective_agency%29
corporate hired thugs that would beat up and even kill protesters in the late 19th century during the Gilded Age. A greedy era in US history where the stratification between the haves and the have-nots was even worse than today - although the gap is widening rapidly again - now in the early 21st century.
Please support unions - regardless of the all the negative propaganda corporations spew out - unions are working folks last set of power chips at the great capital bargaining table that the masses have left. The politicians are puppets on strings in our current broken democracy. If you believe in the founding fathers original vision of a checks and balances system - then it is in your best interest to support unions and the right to unionize freely without any interference or intimidation from management. This is your right and you can check it out here The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Labor_Relations_Act
It is up to all working peoples in the world to unite and demand living wages and safe and reasonable work conditions. These are basic human rights that most corporations ignore - and is part of the reason many have left the US over the last 30 years post NAFTA - mostly to exploit cheap labor over seas and weak environmental laws. Greed and avarice rule the day in the USA.
Hey all you freelance workers - join the growing freelancers union - stop being exploited by rich corporations! https://www.freelancersunion.org/
Reach out and connect and support fellow workers today! A living wage from the rich executive's fast food franchises and Big Box stores like Walmart must happen asap! Around 30% of Walmart workers are on Public Assistance - American tax payers are supplementing these workers incomes to the tune of $$$ billions per year! Meanwhile the Walmart owning Walton family are amongst the richest in the world - with billions each! It's sick, ridiculous and must stop! But it will only stop when folks take it to the streets and organize! Boycotts, divestment - whatever it takes! A pocketbook revolution! I write about these important issues and more in my book Sto-ology. Link here. http://www.amazon.com/Sto-ology-Metaphysical-Exploration-Human-Condition-ebook/dp/B00L6MFTC0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409526855&sr=8-1&keywords=sto-ology
After watching some of the Emmy Award show last night - I was again made wary of the fact that the most popular award winning shows on television are steeped in gratuitous violence. Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, True Detective, Homeland and all the forensic who-dunnit crime dramas that begin with a slaughtered/raped dead female in a nasty location. Makes you wonder about the writers' in Hollywood vibes towards women. Especially if you consider the crime rate in America has gone steadily down around 40% over the last 25 years. One would never think this based on the number of these popular violent crime shows with men, and now women dancing around, shooting people with guns, and of course are never hit by any bullets. Total unrealistic crap.Yet they are the most popular shows on TV. Why?
Is it because we are an inherently violent society of degenerate immigrants from around the world that are subdued by the police state created post Reagen Era and even more so post 9/11 - and live vicariously through nasty characters in these violent TV shows? Are people so bored with their mundane lives that the only escape that satisfies during leisure TV watching time are narratives steeped in violence? It seems the answer is yes if one goes by the popularity and award recognition of these types of violent programs. Yet I wonder if the viewing public were given more quality choices they may choose to watch other types of stories that are more down to earth and deal with complex human dynamics. Shows that would help humanity evolve toward a higher consciousness level. For the first 30 years (1950s-1980s) or so of TV - there were little if any gratuitous violent programs on the air. Sure - there has always been cop shows and court room dramas but little if any scenes of people getting their heads chopped off or women being raped or folks being shot in the face etc. From Leave it to Beaver in the 1950s to The Cosby Show in the 80s - family programming was somewhat wholesome if not unrealistic in the other extreme of too good to be true. However, I feel this ideal of a healthy nuclear family unit to aim for is a better alternative to the current negative bombardment of horrific images kids take in from a young age into adulthood.
There were other shows in the 1970s that achieved a decent balance between entertainment and reality. Such as All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, and Maude - all created by progressive producer Norman Lear. Shows during the golden age of TV - 1950s-1970s - did not rely on the lowest common denominators such as violence, death and destruction. These reptilian aspects of the human psyche are very primitive and at some point we need to shed them like the snake sheds its skin, if we are ever to move forward in evolutionary terms. People will argue that if all shows were less violent and negative it would not be a realistic view of reality. But which is feeding the perpetual ongoing negative feedback loop? Are glamorized violent shows that feature the under belly of society really a reflection of where humans are at (based upon real crime levels) or are perverted writers in Hollywood merely spreading their mental sickness via these high budget productions? Granted these shows have the best actors, directors and writers technically - but what about the negative, violent content and its long and short term effects on society? Does not this constant bombardment of hard core violence and empty sex imagery pollute our minds? We may block out these images after watching, but once they are in your mind's hard drive aka sub consciousness - they are there forever and eventually desensitize you and may influence in a negative way, how you deal with life in general. If we as a human society are to reach our full potential as a gifted species with the ability to shape our own destiny - then we need to make the simple realization that we are what we consume - mentally, physically and spiritually. The prophets and sages - Jesus and Buddha in particular both projected the ideal of a harmonious world where all respect each other and avoid violence by all means. These visionaries set the bar high 2500 years ago and yet here we are in the 21st century in a supposed new golden age of television that glorifies violence and empty no-love sex. This negative madness is in all our creative entertainment - films, TV shows, sports, music and video games. Sad but true.
We as human consumers with freewill have the choice of saying NO - I will not watch/consume negative and violent content anymore. I choose to be part of the progressive element of human society which wishes to make a better, more peaceful world for all to live in. If this sounds corny or unrealistic - then you are steeped in denial of the fact that unless we change our maladaptive primitive consuming behaviors - humans will never reach their full potential.
As someone who grew up in a semi-violent household - I can tell you that the lasting misery and damage to the psyche that comes out of verbal negativity and violence spreads like a cancer through the family unit and is not something anyone with any common sense would ever want to experience - period. I hear a similar story from all soldiers that have fought in wars, which is basically hell on earth - and the innocent people who survive to talk about it. We now we have a medical term - PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) to describe this dark emotional baggage caused by exposure to horrific violence and the negative consequences of human on human violence.
Only we can set us free and truly evolve by making healthy consuming choices. Let's not let sick minds in Hollywood dictate and affect our cosmic evolution as a species. Turn the channel and if you cannot find anything positive or interesting - turn off the TV! Try some new hobbies. Food for thought.
I totally agree with Deepak's argument here. I am fed up with the secular priests preaching their own extremist and unscientific view points in regards to a material reductionism perspective on reality that ignores some the most important phenomena that makes us human. Metaphysical phenomena such as questions/mysteries - what is the meaning or nature of existence - what is love or truth are just a few of the heavy topics explored by philosophers and theologians since the beginning of time. Yet most of the pop secular priests such as Dawkins, Kraus, and Sam Harris have little or no background in epistemology.
Check out the essay and then buy my book on metaphysics, which has plenty of scientific studies as well as philosophy and theology to learn about. 2500 years of knowledge and wisdom to peruse. There are 800 references and 500 links to go deeper into the varied subject matter.
This is a heavy topic that has been covered by many deep thinkers for eons. Today - it is my turn.
I believe in timeless, universal truths. This is contrary to nature in general where flux seems to be the only constant. However, there are truths that are in that mystical zone, such as those that Enlightenment thinkers called 'inalienable' - as in natural born rights. This thought construct of individual rights that is a core part of our US Constitution, exists regardless of what any outside entity says. It is based upon a faith in constructs that live outside of space and time,cannot be put under a microscope, yet are real nonetheless.
There are only a small handful of absolute truths that we currently know about at this point in our evolution, which are not relative but apply to every corner of the multi-verse.These are truths that are beyond facts. Again facts lend themselves to relativity and context. LOVE is the glue or cohesive cosmic element that keeps most creatures evolving toward God's light and is the cornerstone truth of all truths. You will know real truth using the 3 parts of your current incarnation - Mind, Body & Soul aka the mental, physical and the spiritual. When these 3 aspects of your human-being are in harmony, the truth reveals itself. Your soul has the most wisdom as it has been through many lives already, but the gifts of the physical mind CPU and body machine have power/influence over your free will decision making process (gift). The mind is where your intellect and ego lies and can get help you make great leaps of insight or get you into trouble. The body has its own agenda with the heart battling for the the top of the temple hierarchy with the hormones followed by peptides and a myriad of chemical messengers that all work together to give us homeostasis (smooth working machine). Then there is the spirit or soul that is your conscience or moral compass and most direct connection to God. It exists in all parts of your being but has special relationships with your heart and advanced frontal lobe in you brain. All of these aspects of your being are in sync if something is an absolute truth. Your 6th sense, which is an extension of your physical body's sensitivity to the electro-magnetic field as well as other dimensions not yet understood (Morphic Fields?) - will often act as a quick evolutionary false truth detector as in bad vibrations/vibes.
Meditate and align/center your being and then you are in the best position to know real cosmic universal truths versus relative facts or straight up bullshit. LOVE is the key to all understanding.
