Month: March 2013

Is it wrong to have negative impressions of the world?

Let’s be realistic and honest – we do not live in paradise. The world is a troubled place full of troubled people. And, sad and unbelievable as it may be, there are dark forces at work leading humanity toward self-destruction. I’m not insisting that these forces are in any way intelligent or intentional – it just appears to be so; and appearances, although often deceiving, are usually symptoms of actual conditions. Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Many people have accused me in the past of being too reserved and uncommunicative – despite the fact that I appear to constantly broadcast my opinions in person, through books, on my website, over social media and in other ways. So, I now offer a few opinions I hold to be true that might make it clear just what I am saying in life. I am going to use absolute statements – even though, as a philosopher, I am aware that not to use them is often better form. I do this for emphasis.

1. All governments of the world – including Canada, the U.S., Britain and the rest – are corrupt. Outright, criminally based, enemies of humanity. There is at present no good government. Granted, some are far worse than others and I would much rather live under the criminal regime in Canada than just about any place else in the world. Nevertheless, they are all corrupt. They daily demonstrate their complete disregard for the people they claim to represent. In fact, this is the big problem – there simply is no true form of representative government any more. Perhaps nations of the world have become too large or too complicated to administer properly – whatever – all governments are corrupt.
2. All poverty, crime, social injustice, famine, war, economic disparity, illiteracy, disease and social unrest are the direct result of government interference. It is the wrongful action of government that leads to all the problems of the world. I do not say that leadership or good government is not beneficial – certainly it is. We desperately need true leadership and effective administrative control in the world today. However, we simply do not have it. The governments of the world are hopelessly flawed. Professional politicians and administrators have lost their way – the system itself – the system of a select group of qualified individuals determining the fate of a people – fell into darkness centuries ago and has never stumbled back into the light. Certainly the current swarm of overfed politicians is not doing anything to illuminate the world.
3. It is absolutely possible to have good government, sound leadership, social equality, justice for all and true freedom. It is just not manifest in the world today. There is no individual force, no matter how strong or righteous in may be, that can counteract the negative effects of current government. Resistance to the darkness is futile. The only way individuals can thrive as positive, self-determining forces is to completely dissociate ourselves from all the ruling bodies. We cannot participate in the madness. It is certainly possible to survive and financially prosper by going with the flow and collaborating with the ruling powers. However, to truly thrive as authentic human beings requires separation of mind and spirit from the body of government. As the Master Jesus said, “be IN the world, but not OF the world.”
4. Certain celebrities in the world clearly appear to be in league with the forces of darkness and preach a message of corruption to their followers. Oprah Winfrey comes to mind. There is nothing she has said or done publicly indicates to me that she is anything other than a child of darkness. She preaches “the Secret” – ask and you will get. This sounds vaguely Biblical and thus people are encouraged to believe it. But in the Bible, Jesus advises us to ask for the Holy Spirit and to become enlightened – celebrities such as Oprah tell us to ask for money, jobs, power, fame and other material goods. The only force or being that actively grants this type of request is a force of Darkness. God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, is not a wish granting genie and should not be treated as one.
5. Demons, devils, angels and spiritual, non-corporeal beings of all kinds are real – they are just not what ordinary people think they are. Ordinary people are stupid.

I hope these few brief statements make my position somewhat clearer. It is possible to avoid falling victim to the negativity and deceptions currently active in the world. To do so you must determine to get yourself awake. Wake up using any methods available to you. Wake yourself up and then wake up others.

Back in March 1970 there was a total eclipse of the sun visible over Toronto. I was pretty young at the time but I wanted to see it – so, I stood in front of my father’s restaurant on the corner of Queen and Sumach and stared up at the sky waiting for it.

For those of you who don’t know Toronto, Queen and Sumach is on the southern border of a neighborhood known as Regent Park.

Now, Regent Park is quite famous – it is the site of the very first social housing project built in Canada. Located in one of the country’s worst slums, it was set up in 1949 to be a “transitional community” – people experiencing financial difficulties could live there at low, or no rent until their situation improved – and then they were supposed to move on. Of course, few people’s situation ever improved, so they just stayed. Later, the area also developed into a new immigrant settlement.

With low income, overcrowding, general despair and no visible future for most residents, street life degenerated. By the 1960’s crime and violence were commonplace – and the dregs of society seemed to converge on the area.

I learned pretty quickly which of the human “flora and fauna” to avoid and where to run to if I needed a friend. But it never got too bad for me. Older kids had to deal with more stress growing up in such circumstances. I had my books and my imagination to shield me from the worst elements, and I developed the habit of keeping pretty much to myself. The neighborhood has been revitalized since then and is supposed to be better – I don’t know.

But that day, as I stood there, on the verge of losing my retina by staring directly at the sun, something unusual happened. A young girl – 12 or 13 years old – saw me. She was also waiting for the eclipse – an eclipse that the media reports suggested, erroneously, might be the last in 50 years – but she was prepared. She had some kind of plexi-glass visor and a note book in her hand. Where would she have found a visor like that in our neighborhood? As far as I could tell, everyone who lived in Regent Park was stupid and ugly. This girl was neither.

I didn’t know who she was, I never learned her name, I have no idea what happened to her after that day – but she saw me and offered me a look through the visor. There was no reason for this. What was in it for her?

I used the visor and looked up at the sun, but I don’t really remember what I saw. Some other little kids were also on the street and she let them all have a look through the visor. The eclipse lasted about 3 minutes, so by sharing with us she lost the full experience she could have had.

I don’t remember the eclipse – I remember that girl. She switched a light on within me that has grown brighter over time. There could be simple compassion, joy and beauty even in the most depressed areas. Perhaps something beautiful in the most ugly people.

I don’t know who that girl was, yet she left her imprint on me.

Over 40 years later I still remember her and her gentle kindness. Maybe all of us do little things every day that leave an impression on others. Maybe if we think about it we could try harder to ensure that those impressions are good and worth remembering.

San Francisco Zombie Walk

I seem to be obsessed with zombies these days. They’re scary and they are everywhere. There are zombies on TV, zombies in movies, zombies in books – even zombies on the streets. Scariest of all, there are even real life zombies that move among us – camouflaged, unseen but very present. These real zombies are people just like you and me who have abandoned their will and purpose in life and accepted the blank staring, mindless slavery of the damned.

Yes, zombies are everywhere and their numbers are growing. It is true that most of humanity is sleepwalking through life – but the zombie is someone who has given up even the pretense of dreaming. The zombie no longer truly lives, it merely exists. It is a scary proposition yet one that many people seem to embrace. Why? Why is the zombie fate so popular – especially among young people?

There actually are some positive aspects to being a zombie – dubious as they may be.

1. No need to make decisions – you are a zombie
2. No morality, no right or wrong – you are a zombie
3. No need to plan or speculate on the future – you are a zombie
4. No fear of the future in general – you are a zombie
5. No disappointments, no consequences to your actions – you are a zombie
6. No need for money, jobs, career or education – you are a zombie
7. No concern for cleanliness, appearances, clothing or fashion – you are a zombie
8. No need to diet, exercise or worry about your health – you are a zombie
9. No need for good looks, talent, or charm – you are a zombie
10. No need for homes, cars, or possessions of any kind – you are a zombie
11. No fear, despair, anxiety, frustration, pain, – no feelings at all – you are a zombie
12. No solitude, loneliness, separateness – you are instantly part of a community that accepts you totally and without judgment – you are a zombie.

Perhaps this last point is the strongest – for anyone struggling with issues of identity and self-worth and the feelings of being an outcast and not belonging – suddenly being part of an accepting group – even a mindless horde – is a deeply appealing prospect for so many people.

And what are the negatives to being a zombie? Ayn Rand mentions a big one “Your self is your mind; renounce it and you become a chunk of meat ready for any cannibal to swallow.”

To be a zombie means to renounce your mind and with it surrender all humanity and any possibility of real love, vitality, satisfaction and self-expression in life. These things cannot exist without the mind and soul, without consciousness. To be a zombie you must give up the possibility of ever being awake, alive and in control of yourself.

Toronto Zombie Walk

For anyone with a mind, the zombie life is scary and depressing. Yet the numbers of zombies are growing. More and more people around us appear to be opting out of the human race in favor of the non-life of the zombie. A few just play the game of dressing up and acting like the zombies in the movies. But many, many more are taking the camouflaged, invisible but common zombie route – they join gangs, cliques, and clubs with strict, often violent, rules and guidelines of behavior; they immerse themselves in political and religious ideologies; they give up all self-determination, free thought, and individuality and behave and react exactly like all the other zombies. They might not eat the physical brains of the living like they do in the movies, yet their mere presence sucks out the minds and souls of the people around them.

Zombies are perpetual consumers. They gorge themselves on sugar, alcohol, tobacco, drugs of all kinds, deviant sex, the so-called entertainment media, and all the glitter and bling of the world. Modern zombies succumb to obsessive, violent and primal urges and serve and defend the governments and religions that support and perpetuate these urges. They lessen the world and shatter the hopes and dreams of all who try to experience and enjoy real life.

How do you avoid becoming a zombie? If you are a sleepwalker like most of humanity you must first wake up. Wake yourself up by whatever means possible to you and then wake up others. The more awakened people there are the fewer sleepwalkers there will be that can be infected by the zombie plague.

Wake up now and perhaps the world will be saved.

What happened to us? We used to be a planet of heroes: overcoming obstacles, building great cities, creating amazing art, experimenting with empowering forms of government.

One of the last impressive things humans ever did was put a man on the moon way back in 1969. Since then we’ve pretty much just been coasting along – most of our current technology is based on discoveries and advancements from the 1960’s. We really haven’t come up with anything new for some time.

We still have constant warfare and terrorism; bad government around the world; hunger and poverty; human and animal rights violations; criminal degradation; and non-stop cruelty and depravity everywhere.

Instead of working to stop all this “badness” and generate some overflowing “goodness” – we in our so-called advanced civilization seem pretty content to do nothing – as long as we have our favorite TV shows and high-speed Internet access.

What are we doing? Where are the champions that used to motivate and energize us?

The world of politics certainly has no heroes – it is pretty clear that career politicians think only of re-election. Politicians in recent years have, as a whole, clearly demonstrated a complete lack of vision for a sustainable, prosperous and harmonious world. Whenever any one in government or near government makes a speech or statement we must ask “what’s in it for them?” they appear to do nothing that does not directly benefit them or their financial supporters.

We used to honor athletes and entertainers – No more. Professional athletes and entertainers, as a rule these days, display only the baser human traits. They lie, cheat, steal, bad mouth people and exploit everyone around them. They seem to no longer have a concept of chivalry, patriotism or civic duty. They are constantly depicted as violent, sexist, racist, and generally debauched. Perhaps not all – there might still be a few people with integrity seeking the spotlight – but in general they can be seen to use their talents for the sake of mediocrity – free of any concern for values or ideals. A pig-at-the-trough kind of morality – just consume as much as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Maybe that’s the problem – consumerism has run rampant. We don’t want to create we just want to own and use. We don’t even need the best (or know what that is) – we just go after what other people want, what other people have, what other people say is good. Quality and originality are no longer required. Success is based on the ability to re-package the work of others.

The world has become average, ordinary and commonplace. It’s true a few rare souls might occasionally step into the game and try to advance the causes of creativity, freedom, social equality, and universal harmony. Yet their battle against the trends, the mainstream, the status quo, the tradition, the authority and so on becomes a painful trial. So much easier just to bend and conform to the system. To embrace mediocrity and even fight for it – that is the way of the world.

So many people are sleepwalking through life, today. Following, lazily, the easy rule of the few who would seriously enslave us all if they had the chance. And most of us are willing to give them that chance. We fight for the easy way, the common path, the preservation of the herd. The phony success of endless sameness. We fight for mediocrity and it might very well lead us to extinction – at least as a moving, energized species.

So, what can we do about it? How do we help humanity achieve its fullest potential?

The first step is to WAKE UP! Wake yourself up as soon as possible.

And then, go out and wake everyone else up. The more awakened people there are, the fewer sleepwalkers there will be that can defend and sustain the mediocre ideals that now plague us.

Wake up now and perhaps the world will be saved.