What would you have me to pray about for you?

There are plenty of people that believe in the power of prayer, and even more so, when they are in difficult or problematic situation.  So too, there are many people that want to help those that are in some sort of crisis, of which, one of those things so offered, is to pray for or with them.   Yet, think about it, a basic generic prayer for someone, though it may have some value, is never the same thing, as a more focused prayer that directly addresses what the actual problem is that needs to be resolved.  After all, when our Messiah was walking the earth with us, those praying for His healing power, had specific things that they needed, in order to, for instance, to receive sight, or to walk, and this they so boldly asked for.  So then, when we have a friend in need, that we want to offer a prayer for, it is sensible to ask that person what they specifically would wish to have be addressed by prayer.

We do so find that in life, many of us have goals that we want to achieve, of which, some people have a very basic outline of what they want to achieve, such as, to just have a better life – whereas, others are far more specific in what they are trying to achieve, and not only write down what their goals are, but also write down the steps so needed to realistically achieve that goal.  Not too surprisingly, the more specific a given goal is, and the more intent we are on achieving each of those steps to get to that goal, the more often, that desired result so occurs.  So too, in praying, it is of immense value, to be specific to what is so desired in that prayer, so that the concentration and the focus of that prayer can be directed intensely upon what is so needed.

The results that we achieve in life have an awful lot to do with the planning, the effort, and the throughput so generated by us. Those then of little faith, that pray little generic prayers, will typically get the type of result that one would expect from prayer so done in a rote and mechanical way.  On the other hand, those that understand best that with God, all things are truly possible, are the type of people that are going to get things done that seem impossible to others.  That doesn’t mean, of course, that all we pray about fervently, always comes true, but it does so indicate that those of great faith, that are specific and focused upon praying for that which has value are going to be much more successful in their prayerful act, than those that aren’t so engaged.

There are many a person that needs a helping hand, and of which, we aren’t ourselves always qualified to provide them with that helping hand, because we may lack the skill-set that they are so seeking – but know this for a certainty, we can, at a minimum, find out what ails them, and then do our level best to pray to our omnipotent God that it so be done, in God’s good name.

Civilization necessitates cooperation

When we are little children, we have a tendency to want to have our own way, our own toys, and our own dominion, that we alone, are masters of.  In consideration that children, are children, that is to be pretty much expected.  But there comes that time when we have to put away childish things and enter into the adult world.  This thus indicates that those that aren’t able to graduate into becoming responsible, self-sufficient, and mature adults are going to be problematic when it comes time to develop good and healthy societies, because those that think and do wrong things, aren’t then going to do their fair part to help make for a good society.

No human being is an island, and no society can be made up of exclusively individuals that do not believe that they have an obligation to get along with others – for a nation without a purpose, a nation without principles, and a nation without a good reason for its legitimate existence, will not successfully stand the test of time.    That is why, each one of us, needs to contribute to the making of a good civil society, based upon the principles of fair play, justice, equality of opportunity, and meritocracy.  This thus necessitates that we have to make it our point, to cooperate with one another, so that we can together, build our societal edifice upon a solid foundation, rather than to spend inordinate amounts of times in all sorts of rancor, divisiveness, and spiteful behavior.

None of the above means that we should live our lives in abject obeisance to the state, for each of us is born free, with free will, and our own thinking mind – so gifted to us, so that we can through our own volition recognize the superiority of joining together into one body politic.  Additionally, each one of us, is absolutely fallible, despite what we might wish to believe, contrariwise, that some of us, somehow, become infallible, over some extended period of time and study.  That is why it is so important for each one of us, to recognize that the reasonable opinions and viewpoints of others, should often be listened to and considered – for how else then are we able to adjust our own opinions and viewpoints, if we are forever fixed in such, as if our mind is permanently aligned to a broken clock.

As always, it is easy to be the critic, it is easy to teardown, to destroy, and to belittle someone else or even a government for its faults.  To those that are especially adept at such, no credit should be accorded, for destruction without a corresponding plan of improvement to thus enact instead, is wrong-headed.  Rather, for civilizations to advance, for society to get better, we need to put our heads together, and to make collective success be the focus of what we are so trying to achieve.  That is to say, people and governments lose their direction, when then have essentially lost the purpose for their being in the first place.  The point of civilization, is to gather together, for the purpose of improving the lot of the people that make up that civilization, best accomplished by having a point of discussion, leading to a plan of action, and then the implementation of such a plan for the greater good of that civilization through the willing cooperation of its people.

The relentless rise of the superrich

While the world, at large, has an incredible amount of wealth – that wealth besides not being evenly distributed, is skewed so dramatically to the superrich, that hundreds of millions upon millions of people suffer from extreme poverty; along with the inconvenient fact that what we so see in many western nations, is that not only is there a stubborn amount of people still below the poverty line, but also that those of the middle class are typically themselves feeling more and more pressure on being able to sustain the relatively little of worth and value that they can truly call their own.

The superrich are extremely skilled at making money, as well as in avoiding fair and appropriate taxation to such, and when that government, of, for, and by the people is really just a front, for a government that for all practical purposes is really of, for, and by the superrich, then the end result is going to be what we so see today in nations, such as the United States of America.  One would think, that in the land of opportunity, and of liberty, that the government that so determined that a progressive income tax was necessary in order to redistribute monies from the rich back to that government, that provided these very successful people and corporations with the opportunity to make those riches, in the first place, would thus make sure to see that such taxation would be robust and effective in its application, but that isn’t the case at all. 

As reported by Oxfam.org, “The richest 1 percent grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth worth $42 trillion created since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population.” This is clearly indicative that wealth creation in this world, has essentially been “gamed” by those that are the richest and most powerful people and organizations in it.  Such success could only come about when governments of nations are themselves either part and parcel of those superrich and powerful people, or have effectively been “captured” themselves by the superrich as well as its powerful corporations. 

A world in which the superrich have everything, and the balance so remaining, must be divvied up by the remainder of the population, at large, is not only going to be an unfair world, but it is going to be, by definition, a world of unease, civil unrest, violence, and revolution.  Most people do not begrudge another for their success – but they do begrudge a construct in which the game is fixed in the favor of a small cadre of superrich individuals as well as super powerful corporations. 

The superrich spend far too much time and energy trying to justify to others, that the wealth that they so have, has been mainly created by their hard work and overall genius.  Whether or not this is true, misses the point, which is that a world in which only a few have so much, and the balance of the population, has so little, reflects a society in terminal decline, and not one of success or satisfaction.   Recognize this well, the biggest crybabies in the world, are the superrich, for they get all up in arms, whenever their wealth is challenged by fair taxation, fair play, and a reconfiguring of the business world, to assure fair and robust competition.  The fact of the matter is that the superrich don’t want to change a thing, because they already have everything – which is why things must change.

The United States indirect support of warfare and insurrections worldwide

When it comes to spending on its military, the United States is such an outlier, that its aggregate amount of monies so allocated to defense spending is more than the next ten highest defense spending countries, combined.  Further to the point, the United States, as reported by the Stockholm International Peace Research, “…accounted for nearly 40 percent of military expenditures by countries around the world in 2022.”  So then, in recognition that those that rob banks, do so, because that is where the money is at; this thus makes the extensive inventory of United States military armaments an especially desirable target.  After all, when it comes to revolutionaries of all types, paramilitary units, international illicit drug dealers, and just about any enterprise that understands the value of having weapons, America has a very wide breadth of what these entities so desire and need.

Let’s face it, when it comes to revolutions, one of the very first tasks, so done, if not the very first, by those contemplating a revolutionary action, is to take control of the most strategically important armories, because those that have the weapons, obviously have an initial huge advantage over those that have lost such.  It is then quite disappointing to read, as reported by apnews.com, that “…at least 1,900 United States military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s.”  Undoubtedly, this is a massive undercount of military firearms so lost or stolen – because with the billions upon billions of dollars so being spent upon our military weapons, we can certainly count on the number of weapons having been lost or stolen, being considerably higher than that.   Additionally, America has a really bad habit of leaving behind its weaponry in countries that they have had engagements with, when they decide to hurriedly withdraw their forces, so of.  Also, there are those times when America arms a particular side of an insurgency, only to find at a later period of time, that America and that insurgency are no longer on the same side.

The reality of the matter is that armaments cost a whole lot of money and because of their considerable value and vital worth, are going to be in high demand by those that are needing such, in which, therefore, those organizations or personnel that a have an itch for money or actually believe in a particular cause are going to be agreeable to making an underhanded deal, which will thus benefit both parties to it.  Further to the point, revolutions and insurrections have a fundamental need for weapons of all sorts, and aren’t going to waste their time with those nations that don’t have the capacity or the caliber of the weaponry that they are so seeking.  Additionally, there is only one superpower in the world, of which that superpower, has military bases, all over the world, numbering in the range of 800 or so – and the logistics of getting weaponry and armaments to all of those foreign bases is going to lend itself to all sorts of opportunities for those that are ambitious to make a deal to obtain a subset of those armaments.

In short, when we look at all the video of warfare throughout the world, and are suitably impressed by the massive firepower so displayed by these paramilitary or revolutionary groups – know that, in many a case, what they so have and handle, is proudly made in America.

Wars, fighting, and humankind

For any reasonable person it has to be a great disappointment that nations far too often decide to resolve their differences through warfare.  So too, many human beings, are prone to taking the law into their own hands, or pretty much deciding that they desire to fight someone over all sorts of things, and have been doing so for generations upon generations.  In short, nations still go to war all of the time, and people still fight each other, all of the time, as well.

When we look at the animal kingdom, we recognize that though some of the fighting is ritualistic, most of the fighting so initiated is primarily done so for purposes of getting food, or for mating, or for status, or for territory.  So then, when we look at nations that fight one another, they primarily do so on a fundamental level, to control or to takeover territory as well as obtain valued resources.  Additionally, for those humans that fight, it is commonly done so for respect or status within their domain, or to gain something of value from someone else.  In other words, a lot of the reasons why nations and humans fight have a lot in common with the reasons that animals fight.  That is to say, we so find that pretty much that the purpose of fighting is to gain something of value or worth, at the expressed expense of the other.

If humankind or nations do actually desire to evolve and to thus become civilized in the true meaning of that word, then humankind and nations need to change their thinking, because the progress so needed to resolve our differences through something other than constantly fighting is frustratingly slow. The fact that in today’s world, that humankind has so much knowledge about so many different things, but still insists upon primarily resolving its differences through fight, is absolutely pathetic, which reflects that humans are far more dim-witted than most people recognize.

All of those that believe that we are special creations of God, have got to be incredibly disappointed that human beings spend such an inordinate amount of time, fighting one another, all done, pretty much at the same level, that animals do.  This would presuppose that human beings aren’t actually all that different than animals, and perhaps reflects that human beings did indeed evolve from apes. 

For those, that understand, that each one of us has been gifted with free will and must therefore fairly face the consequences of our actions; in addition to understanding that the mind that we have can thus be utilized either for good or for bad, need then to clearly demonstrate the discipline and the wisdom to do the right thing, consistently.  This means, understanding, that the change that we need to see, in order to cut down significantly upon all of the warfare and fighting so occurring, must come forth from our own actions, so directed by our own thoughts, in unity.  It is needful to understand that the pathway to advancement of our species, is not going to successfully come through warfare and fighting, but remains as it always has been, through fairness, justice, teamwork, forgiveness, and love, actualized.

The pernicious of social media

If social media was structured in a way and manner in which those so posting only ever dealt with the closest of friends and family, and of which, negative and demeaning posts were frown upon or never even commented upon, then perhaps all would be well.  But that isn’t social media at all, because social media as presently structured, seems to represent a format in which, far too often, the “friends” that are part of our social media, aren’t really friends, at all; and the posts so being made aren’t really there to provide a fair window into a given person’s life, but more are there as a form of narcissism or bragging, more than anything else.

The toxicity of social media is proven out by the fact that those that are especially young of age and posting, aren’t typically able to find themselves a safe place on social media in order to decompress and to just be their own real self, for a while; but rather feel far too often pressured to measure up to, or compete against others, in which in this zero-sum game there are most definitely losers as well as winners.  While social media can represent a lot of different things to different people, of which, some of these things are good – it also suffers fundamentally from the cardinal sin of being damaging far too often to the fragility of a person’s ego, their self-assessment, their good humor, and their overall civility.

Life presents all sorts of challenges to young people, in which, many a child after having a rough day ends up being consoled by their family or friends in order to help right their ship, and thus be able to face another day, feeling better about themselves, and thereby putting what has so happened to them that they didn’t like, back into its appropriate perspective.   The thing about social media, though, is that it can be absolutely relentless in its negativity, so that, something bad that has happened, can be successfully regurgitated in one form or another, over and over again, which thus means that the wound so inflicted, doesn’t ever have a chance to properly heal, and because of that, creates a situation in which a given person thus suffers from something chronically damaging and seemingly without end.

This thereby signifies that social media is the type of format that allows those that are bullies, along with their compatriots, to essentially attack the weak and vulnerable; and of which, those that have been attacked, if unable to mount a successful defense or to somehow walk away from such, will end up suffering through that media the public embarrassment of their shame, and some of these people so suffering, will have a tendency to turn their righteous anger that they have inside, inward, and thus hurt their own selves out of frustration and a sense of hopelessness. 

This world can be a dangerous and ugly place, which is why we have laws, legislators, and governments – of which, the primary purpose of a government is to insure the domestic tranquility of the people.  When it comes to social media, the proper refereeing so needed to protect people from the perniciousness of that media is virtually non-existence, and the end result, so of, is the type of tragedies that we see so happen, most every day from it.

Why is America so violent?

One would have a tendency to believe that any nation, espousing the values of liberty, freedom, free will, and the pursuit of happiness -- and, of which, the governance of that said nation, would appear to be theoretically structured in a way and manner to best produce these good attributes, would, by definition, probably also be a nation with a minimal amount of violence, discord, and uncivility.  Yet, in all honesty, America does not actually represent a country in which all is well – demonstrated quite conclusively by the incredible amount of violence perpetuated each and every day within it, both licit and illicit, along with the massive amount of its own citizens that are locked up, and finally by the tremendous disparity between those few that have so much of everything, as contrasted to a significant amount of those that have so little of anything.

One of the problems of being the richest nation that the world has ever known, is the salient fact that the people within that nation, are constantly being bombarded by advertisements, social media posts, and entertainment glorifying the necessity as well as the beauty of certain material assets as being the pinnacle of what it means to be an American – basically demonstrating the point that America is a very wealthy nation –  but, we also find that, what often isn’t really stated or said, is that the greatest wealth of this country is mainly in the hands of a small minority of people, that have the absolute best of it.  This thus creates the construct, in which those that have little or nothing, feel that their self-worth is basically equivalent to their material possessions, and because they lack that material success, find that this quite frequently breeds, in them, discontent, envy, frustration, and jealousy.

So then, within these American enclaves of poverty and neglect, those that are brought up in such a place, and have no good mentor or moral authority to help them navigate the very dangerous waters that they live within, are going to have a strong tendency to want to even the score, as they so mature, especially when all they have known previously is poverty, lack, and abuse by those that are stronger than them.  Further to the point, it would be one thing, if everyone else, suffered from the same sorts of problems that those that have nothing good to call upon so suffer from; but for a certainty, America is, in reality, a very wealthy nation, along with it also being too often, unfair, unjust, corrupt, and discriminatory.

In short, for those that have no hope of honestly earning what they perceive that they want and of which, they picture their life as pretty much being without legitimate hope – then they are going to have a strong inclination to take what they want by any means so necessary, of which, for those that lack a legitimate path to achieve such, they will often turn to various forms of violence or intimidation to accomplish their goals, for this, for them, represents their own storming of the Bastille.

Christ was not born into royalty

Christianity is one of the world’s great religions, and certainly is the predominant religion of those of western nations.  One might have a tendency to think then, that Jesus would have to have been born to some family of real note and meaning, but this doesn’t appear to be really true, at all.  Jesus was not born into a high place, or even of a family representing notable material or social success.  Rather, we are told in Holy Scripture that Jesus was born, while his parents were traveling as per their obligation for a census, and further that there was no room at the inn, for the pregnant Mary, and that Jesus upon His birth in Bethlehem, was placed into a manger. 

None of this seems to suggest that Jesus’ family was of any particular notable significance or of high class, whatsoever; at least, from a material perspective.  That is to say,  the family of Jesus, while not having either wealth or status, were nevertheless very good people, of integrity, high moral standards, and of great spiritual strength.  So then, in consideration that Jesus came from relatively humble circumstances, it would seem to behoove us to make it our point, to see that those that are of impressive wealth, high position, and status should not be accredited as good people based upon that material status or of their position in society, but rather would be better judged upon the content of their character, instead.

It is fair to state, that in Jesus’ ministry, there was never a time when Jesus was so caught, counting his money, and thus attesting to the virtue of having great wealth or even the necessity of such.  Instead, Jesus demonstrated that the most important principle in our life, has to be our relationship one to another, in which, we are here to help uplift one another, as well as to do our fair part to be a source of good to each other.  That is to say, there are plenty of things that we could so concentrate upon each and every day, believing perhaps that these tasks then are the most important things that we need to focus upon; but, in reality, there is nothing more important than seeking harmony and oneness with our God.

So too, we do so find that rich and powerful people, have often deep within their psyche, a proximate concern that perhaps not all is well, with what they have so done in order to be in the place that they are at – of which, then, many a personage thereby attempts to paper over this possible flaw by being generous through donations of all sorts.  Yet, while money has its place, that place is almost exclusively within this material plane and nowhere else.  Rather, each of us is meant to get off of our “high horse” and to meet people where they are really at, for those that feel “big” about giving away this or that, are missing the very salient point, which is that the most important gifts in life are accomplished through our noble service, our sincere love, our caring concern, and our continuous dedication to doing what we best can do to help bring those that are in darkness, into Light.

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance”

The above quotation comes from the father of our Constitution as well as he also being our 4th President, James Madison.  This wisdom holds as true today as it did back then, signifying that any governance that desires to have its population be in the dark, or ignorant, about those matters of fundamental importance, is not only governance gone wrong, but is clearly not a government that has any real interest in serving the people well, at all.  Let’s face it, those that are lacking in proper and fundamental educational achievements, are typically going to be the very same people that are far easier to manipulate, to mold, to exploit, and to take advantage of.  Those then that will not question what needs and should be questioned, of their government, make for pliant citizens, which is not necessarily the same thing, as a good citizen, so of.

Those then that are in the know, as compared to those that are not, are thus able to take the knowledge that they have, and use such, for their own personal advantage – though, that said, they can also use such knowledge for the greater good, as well.  The thing is, when those that are governed, do not have the ready capacity to hold those that govern them, accountable, for their actions so done on their behalf, then the results, thereof, are going to be exclusively dependent upon the wisdom, integrity, and interests of those that have that powerful knowledge.  

There was a time when those in the most powerful of positions, be secular or religious, or both, were the very same entities that utilized their respective dominant positions, to convince credulous others, that their position, was ordained to them, by God, so no earthly power or personage, could ever then question their authority and thus their decision making.  For all those that believed such, for instance, because Holy Scripture as promulgated seemed to support this viewpoint, or because all of the material wealth so controlled by these powerful people, was both massive and intimidating in its scale, of which, they had themselves not the knowledge to question this prism, were therefore at their mercy as to what they could thus fairly avail themselves of.

While an ignorant population is far easier to manipulate and to control, over a free thinking people, that sort of governance in which only the few are knowledgeable and the great majority of the population is not, can only going so far, because societies improve and advance themselves based upon their collective knowledge and the throughput of its citizens, in whole.  In other words, the more knowledgeable that a given nation is, the better life this will present to the people of that nation, in totality.  For we so find, that the injustices, the inequalities, and the unfairness that is so often presented to us in civil society, are best overturned when the people are alert, engaged, and motivated to see that the playing field, that all must play upon, is leveled; and thus, not permanently tilted to favor just one class of people, over everyone else.   Those then, in governance, that best support knowledge for all, represent the best servants to the people; and those that do not, don’t.

“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression”

The full quotation from one of our founding fathers, Thomas Paine, reads as follows, “He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself,” from  A Dissertation on the First Principles of Government (1795). Those then, that believe that human society is ever evolving, and thus ever getting better and wiser, would be hard pressed to acknowledge that over two hundred years later, that we are actually following in our governance, these wise and prescient words so espoused by Thomas Paine.

In fact, just about everything that America’s governance does, demonstrates that they clearly do not believe in making their liberty secure by guarding even their enemy from unjust oppression, but rather,  they plainly believe the very opposite.  This government, with all of its secrets, along with the incredible amount of monies so being devoted to military affairs, in addition to the continuous and invasive surveillance of foreign as well as domestic peoples, seems to care not a whit about liberty for anybody or anything; but mainly seems to care about protecting those that are its most powerful actuators from having to disclose openly what it is so doing under the people’s name, using the guise that such is being done, for the defense and protection of the homeland -- when in actuality, these premeditated actions so being enforced are often contradictory to what this Constitutional republic properly stands for.

The sensible thing to understand is that each and every one of us has an unalienable entitlement to liberty, freedom, free will, and the pursuit of happiness.  So that, any proposed action that precludes these very things or is situated to take away these very attributes, needs to be carefully looked at and debated upon, before it is so implemented, because that which would take away our liberty is not only an assault upon our personal liberty, but it is an assault against that which we were gifted with, at our birth.

There are far too many people, as well as nations, for that matter, that talk a very good line, but their implementation of what they have so promised or have sworn to uphold, leaves much to be desired.  It is easy for many a person to get behind an unfair action, when that action will directly or indirectly benefit them, especially so when they don’t care to consider the consequences to the other, in any real detail.  Yet, this type of favoritism is foreign to what liberty really represents, for either liberty is for every one of us, or it is for no one – it can’t be both.

Those that are sound of mind, and sensible in their personality, desire not only full liberty for themselves, but in all aspects, full liberty for others.  We are meant to be free will individuals, that understand that the greatest government is never going to be that opaque and non-transparent government that has the audacity to claim that it is always protecting us and thus keeping us safe; but rather that government that encourages us to live our best life, by seeing that the other, is accorded the same type of respect, fairness, liberty, and understanding, that we so richly desire for our own self.

Strikes and closures

While America so represents a lot of different things to its citizens, one of those things that we see represented, is that America is a nation of laws and lawyers.  No doubt, laws and lawyers serve their essential purposes in the everyday life of Americans, and of which, if the law was equally applied to everyone, that would be of fair benefit to the nation, in whole.  Regrettably, the law as applied has far less to do with meting out justice and seems instead to often be tilted in the favor of those that have money and influence.  To wit, those of the laboring class, are almost always in a situation in which their power and influence is poorly positioned to effect change, when they so choose to stand up against the management of a given corporation.  That is to say, many of those that labor, are fearful of doing anything that would serve to jeopardize their job, which puts them in a very poor position, to improve their own lot.

Nevertheless, when we look at the laws within America, the right for those that labor, to initiate a strike, is clearly written into law.  So too, the right for companies to lay off employees, or to move their facility or to close their business, with little or even with no notice, is written into law, as well.  These then, are the laws as written, but the salient problem of these laws has a  lot to do with how they are interpreted and enforced.   For instance, for those laborers that are joining together so as to strike, one of their principle weapons is the fact that the disruption of the normal course of business, is typically something that makes a material difference in the profitability and sustainability of that company, which thus makes it a very powerful weapon to wield, in order to effect change.  Yet, many a strike so initiated, will be found in a court of law, or mediation, to be illegal in some aspect of it, which ranges from “misconduct” of the strikers, to an injunction so implemented to end the strike.  On the other hand, we have many a company that will effectively, if they do not get concessions from their employees, or tax abatements from governmental tax authorities, simply abandon their plant, and thus close that plant, only to reopen it at another location, elsewhere, including overseas – in which, the government, in many a case, simply sees such an action by that company as the normal course of events that free enterprise so permits.

So then, we have in effect, laws that deal with strikes and closures, in which those that are of the laboring class that strike, are not afforded all of their rights by law, because the judicial decision makers as well as ruling governance typically favor the corporate class, and because of this favoritism, makes it more problematic for those contemplating a strike, to successfully strike, in the first place.    Yet, if we were to take an honest look at corporate closures, layoffs, and the deliberate moving of jobs to overseas workers, we would discover that if we merely changed the prism of our viewpoint that we would see that corporate closures are, in reality, akin to an actual corporate strike against its own workers, in which the corporation refuses to stay open for business, and therein lies the rub and the hypocrisy, so of.

Ultra-processed food, cheap calories, and bad health

There are certain things that are necessary in order to sustain physical life in this world, of which, each of us needs, for instance, oxygen, water, shelter, and food, in order to live.  So too, whatever our daily habits are, our body has a very strong tendency to dictate to us, when it so desires to have food, and we typically readily comply with such.  In America, there appears to be an ample supply of food so available to us, of which, the dividing line between what we so buy, has an awful lot to do with the disposable income budgeted for food consumption.  That is to say, for those that have a ready supply of money, their food choices are far more broader, than for those that have a budget which constrains them in the purchases that they so make of food.  This thus signifies that the food items that we consume, is going to show meaningful and significant differences between those that have, and between those that basically have not.

It would be one thing, if every calorie was equal, but, in fact, calories are not equal; because the food that we consume, ranges from that which is wholesome to that which is best defined as “junk.”  Not too surprisingly, those that consume more caloric junk food, as compared to those that consume more caloric healthy food, are going to find themselves, on a trajectory in which the consistent eating of food items that have little nutritional value, and are highly processed, are not good for their physical body.  While we can decry the poor food choices so being made, by certain segments of the population, what has to be taken into salient consideration, is that junk food is usually priced considerably lower than healthy alternatives, and therefore for those people that can only afford to buy cheap calories, their diet is thus going to consist of a lot more ultra-processed food.

We read at foodtank.com, “…that ultra-processed foods are 52 percent cheaper than less processed alternatives, on average;” and further to the point that “…more than 60 percent of caloric intake in the U.S. comes from ultra-processed food.”  Indeed, our eyes do not deceive us, as America, year after year, sees that more and more of its population has bigger body mass indexes (BMI), which reflects that those that eat a lot of cheap calories, eat far more than what they would normally eat, because ultra-processed food does a very poor job of satiating the body’s insistent need for good nutritional intake.

The thing about ultra-processed food is not only is that food readily available, and of which the manufacture and transportation of such is easily achieved, but that it tellingly is also a heck of a lot cheaper than wholesome food – so then, those that are on a budget, or prefer eating that which they consider to be “comfort food” are going to avail themselves of such; especially in consideration that unlike the consumption of tobacco, which has a warning label attached to it, along with governmental cautions to avoid such, ultra-processed food is pretty much treated as any other food item.

While, at the end of the day, we could just say that the general public is entitled to make their free choice about what they so desire to eat, it has to be taken into full account, that the consistent eating of ultra-processed food, besides making the body mass of a given individual bigger, is also over the long term detrimental to the health of that individual, which leads to ever more people, suffering from preventable diseases, which likely would be better averted if their food choices were more healthy.

An accident waiting to happen

Accidents happen.  In fact, accidents in regards to vehicles as well as in the workplace, can be rather common occurrences and some of these accidents can also be rather catastrophic; to wit, around 40,000 people die from car crashes, yearly.  So too, certain industries, are known to be dangerous enough, that serious injuries or even death can await those that work at those facilities, in which, despite protective gear and sensible protocol, the inherent danger of that workplace, still produces tragic incidents.

While there has been notable improvements made in workplace safety as well as in automobile safety and crash protection, the bottom line is that there are still an uncomfortable amount of accidents, that have serious consequences associated with them that still occur.  This thus raises the question, as to whether the design of automobiles, the roadways so utilized, and the operators of those vehicles, are conducted in a way and manner, in which, the safety of the person and their occupants is the preeminent concern.  The same basic question can be asked about the workplace, especially for certain jobs that have dangerous elements to them, as to whether or not, the safety of those so working is of preeminent concern.

The reason why the question has to be asked, is that we live within a capitalistic society, so it certainly is fair to surmise, that the lust for profit, as well as the fact that companies have to compete, often seems to necessitate that some sacrifices or compromises in regards to overall safety, and therefore the frequency of accidents and the intensity of such, will have to be made, in order to maintain good profitability and a strong competitive presence.  This signifies that for a certainty, that while there will always be some accidents that will happen, that probably more could be done by manufacturers, designers, and this government to reduce such even more, if this was actually prioritized higher.

The above signifies that there are indeed some accidents that are waiting to happen, because the conditions, so of, are structured in a way and manner, in which it is inevitable that an accident will occur.  So then, within the equation of life, a reasonable person, should have the right to know, as to how that formula is being designed, monitored, and regulated; because it would seem that in all probability we could reduce accidents further, if that was indeed the overarching desire of this government, businesses, and the people, so of.

There are plenty of ways to attack a given problem, of which, one of those ways has to be, to bypass those avenues that offer only a temporary fix or respite, and to resolve instead to go after those solutions, that are more robust, innovative, and revolutionary, instead.  How valuable a human life should be, or the value of the continual health and safety of that person, needs to be answered, forthrightly.   After all, a human life is vulnerable to all sorts of events, of which, at a minimum, when it comes to those events that can be readily controlled or modified, we should want to reduce accidents to something appreciably less than what we so see occurring, today.

The invisible rules the visible

There are many people that believe that the only reality is that which they see, hear, feel, touch, and smell.  That is to say, they see the world through that prism, and hence the reality of that world is constructed within the confines of that viewpoint.  The thing is that, though this may be difficult for many people to accept, is that the visible is always the manifestation of that which is invisible. That is to say, there are invisible forces that are actually the basis for all of the reality that we perceive, so done through our mind, which in and of itself, is invisible to us.

It is those that are overly fixated upon the physical that often have the most problematic of lives, because they concentrate their thinking and their efforts upon that which appears to be of most importance to them, in which, because they have difficulty in perceiving anything outside the physical, thus become overly burdened by that which is material, above all else.    Rather, they would be far better served, if they understood better that they are much more than the material parts that make up their physical form, and have within their being, something that is both invisible as well as eternal.

When we go, for instance, to a movie and get enthralled by the actions and the characters that are in it; we believe, in that time and space, that what is so happening appears to be “real,” when it is nothing more than a moving picture show, so being presented for our entertainment or for the value it presents to us, thereof.  In other words, when we become emersed within watching that movie, we essentially identify, for a time, with something outside of our own self, which makes it therefore appear real or of relevance to us – though, in actuality we have not ourselves changed our physical form, whatsoever.  What has occurred, is that the invisible, or our mind, has transformed us from one reality to another perceived reality, and ultimately back again, perhaps having made a meaningful change to us.

We are a thinking people, and often it is the visible reality of what we so perceive, that influences what we subsequently think, say, and do.  Yet, when we quiet our mind, and concentrate on that which is invisible and timeless, we can thus open up another dimension, which correctly points us in the direction in which we can acknowledge that the visible is always dependent upon the invisible; therefore, representing that when we are successful in changing our perception, the reality that we perceive, changes, as well.

We are not meant to be limited by our five human senses, but rather these are provided to us as navigational tools to deal with the physical elements of this planet, but never are they meant to be our sole resource to draw upon, for the waters that we have to avail ourselves of, are ever deep and far richer in minerals, if only we would take the time, to turn inward, and seek diligently that which actuated us, in the beginning.

Great military forces and the ruling of the people

America is the sole superpower in the world, of which, it is absolutely second to none.  While, that may well bring a sense of security to many an American, there is, in these types of situations, a clear and present danger that such a military as that, has easily the capability in the hands of those that are overly ambitious and unpatriotic in form, of that miliary force actually being used against its own citizens.  After all, there are those that believe, that when they have immense military power that they can call upon, that when election results are unsatisfactory or the direction of the country is troubling, that these types of scenarios present an opportunity for that military to take control of the domestic affairs of that nation that it purportedly is meant to faithfully serve.

As much as Americans want to believe that we live under a Constitutional government, it has to be acknowledged, that government, in so many ways and means by its actuation, is, in essence, force.  That is to say, the laws that we have, in effect, necessitate a policing force in order for the general population to understand that behind the laws so legislated that there is a physical enforcing mechanism; for without such enforcement, the obeying of laws might well be ignored by those that feel no real compelling reason that these laws should apply to them or to be fearful of suffering any associated penalties in regards to them.

So then, while it has to be admitted that there needs to be a domestic policing force to do their part in seeing that the law is enforced; it also has to be admitted that a military force is required in order to protect Americans from enemies, both domestic and foreign.  The problem, though, comes about because those that are at the highest echelons of military command, are from time-to-time the very same personages that rule a given nation.  That is to say, take a look at the past Presidents of the United States, and understand that a meaningful portion of them, have been part of the miliary or have served in such, in which, Presidents such as Washington, Grant, and Eisenhower, have all been at the very pinnacle of military generalship power.

This is thus indicative, that great military power, which will not bend to civil rule, has because of its muscle the easy capability to run roughshod over any civil government; for we find that far too often, throughout history, whomever has the guns, makes the rules.  This is why, it has to be taken into fair account, that when a given military force is heads and tails above any other country’s military force, that perhaps it would behoove that government, of, by, and for the people, to temper down the amount of monies and personnel so being devoted to the military, for this world is full of ambitious people, and those that are ambitious may well see America, which is the preeminent economic force in the world, as something that needs a very strong guiding hand, in order to keep its status as the most valuable nation in the world.

In our modern civilization, brawn is often not enough to have a good life

While there will continue to be a place for blue collar jobs, such as in plumbing, electrical work, construction, transportation, and so on and so forth, it has to be acknowledged that those that are in the white collar professions are often the very same people that make the most money and have then the best secured and most satisfactory lives.  One’s livelihood is important not only for the individual, but also for the overall satisfaction or lack, thereof, of a given person’s life.  While, there is no shame in whatever work that a person does, as long as that work represents something of value and worth to society, there is the inconvenient fact, that not only do some jobs pay a heck of a lot more money in compensation, but also that there are certain fundamental skill-sets that are pretty important to have, in order to not be susceptible to being taken advantage of.  For instance, those that are functionally illiterate are pretty much at the mercy of those that are literate, in which, those then suffering from that disadvantage are much more easily taken advantage of.  So too, those that do not have basic mathematical skills, are often the very same people, that have difficulty in understanding the importance of mortgage interest rates, car loan interest rates, or even the unit price of grocery store items.  That is to say, those that are challenged through the word or through math, or both, are typically dependent upon the good will of others, in order to come out okay.

 Additionally, there are many people that have a very good work related skill-set along with having a good reputation, that thus believe that they can go into business for themselves, and perhaps then employ a few other people;  but whenever the leader of that organization is not competently skilled in the comprehension of the written word or the fundamental mathematics so needed to best understand how to price their business services and payroll, then the end result will often be something far less than ideal.

All of the above, basically signifies that even for those that have little or no interest in a formal education, that they at a minimum, need to know the value and importance of reading, writing, and arithmetic; and further to the point, this is at a minimum, what everyone needs to learn within our public educational school system.  Indeed, there has to be a minimum educational standard, that all those that are citizens of America, should be competent at, and the younger the age that this is accomplished, the better.

While this nation preaches the value of “no child being left behind,” the actual result, thereof, is indicative that many children are left behind, and even worse than that, far behind.  In this modern era, this nation needs to concentrate more on being especially inclusive of those that are the most vulnerable amongst us, so that these disadvantaged people have a fair opportunity to be able to live out the ideals and dreams of this nation, by being able to pursue happiness, and to have freedom, best secured by having a solid and practical educational foundation to stand upon.

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think”

The above quotation is attributed to the renowned anthropologist, Margaret Mead, and is as applicable today as it was back then.  We live in an age in which regrettably our own governance seems to be on a mission that discounts the importance and value of thinking for our own self, and replacing such with basically obedience to the state dictates and desires.  The reason why so many governments don’t desire for their own population to think for themselves, is that they seem beholden to the belief that the best population is that which is compliant to the supposed needs of that governance and especially to the military-industrial-technology complex, so of. 

We are not meant to be a nation of sheep, but rather we are supposed to be a nation of liberty loving, and independent people, in which each of us are trying to live out our best life.  It is critical to note, that each of us has been created by the very same hand, of which, we therefore each have the very same unalienable rights, and to have those rights subsumed by the state or by corporate actors, is a grand disservice to what we could or should achieve with our free thinking mind.

In this modern era, we have to be cognizant that never has this government, as well as corporate entities known so much about us, of what and who we are; which signifies that we need to do our level best to see that we do not give in to what is so wanted from us, without, at a minimum, thinking about whether or not this is the best decision for us.  We are not meant to be automatons, for there already are automatons enough, in the sense of our modern conveniences and computer devices of all types, that perform quite competently that function.  We are meant, for a certainty, to think for ourselves, so that we can best realize the potential that each one of us is born with, and of which, importantly, we each have different skill-sets as well as proclivities to live up to.

There are plenty of people and institutions, that aren’t really interested in having a debate, or a discussion, or of hearing what another person has to say, but rather they just want abject obedience, for in getting that obedience, these entities, thus get their way.  Those then that think and thereby standup for themselves, make all those of the status quo that are authoritarian or dictatorial in their nature – nervous and upset, for these influential and powerful entities rely upon manipulation and exploitation to have and to get their way -- not caring to be stymied by anyone or anything, displaying independent thinking or defiance of any sort.

Remember this well, each of us is gifted with our free will mind, thereby free to think whatever that it is that we so desire to think – of which, this is indeed a very great gift bestowed upon us.  Those then, that contemplate giving up such a gift, should at a minimum, make sure that what they anticipate receiving in return is of lasting value, and if they have any real sensibility, should think long and hard before relinquishing such.

Towards a more perfect understanding

While there are millions upon millions of people, that are quite familiar with the bodily resurrection of Jesus the Christ, there are far fewer that really comprehend the meaning of it all.  The lesson of the crucifixion and ultimate resurrection of Christ, is something that a significant percentage of people, fail to truly understand, which has a lot to do not so much with people’s lack of intelligence or their disbelief, but more to do with their lack of seeing beyond the physical into a dimension that knows not time or space.

It is wise to remember that fundamentally we are in our essence, spiritual and not physical.  If we don’t comprehend this fact, than it becomes very problematic to understand the nature, let alone the meaning of Christ as our Messiah, in the first place. So too, far too many people get fixated, about the whole abuse, injustice, and crucifixion of Christ – not seeming to understand that the lesson, so proven by our Messiah, is that we are never the physical, except for when we exist temporarily within this earthly plane. 

After all, consider this, all that is physically born, must by its very nature, physically die.  Indeed, Christ became the sacrifice for our failure to understand that when we are fixated on all the allurements, desires, and temptations that this world so presents, this often entices us to forget who and what we really are, in essence, and therefore our purpose in our being.  This meant that Christ had no choice but to demonstrate to us, in action, that all the allurements that keep us so occupied and pre-occupied, are a false construct, which precludes us from acknowledging who that we really are.

While the physical body is indeed mortal, that which is immortal, no matter its perceived form, can never be vanquished, no matter what.  Christ wants us to understand that though he indeed did unjustly suffer, that we needed to know, that mortality is only of this earth, and that therefore, the risen Christ, was best meant to be pictured as Christ having not just risen his physical body, but that Christ had risen beyond and above mortality, itself.

The games that are played on this earth, some of which are quite serious which while also having significant consequences to them, are ultimately representations of free will, being exercised upon this earth for good or for bad.  Yet, though there are mistakes so being made, there are also plenty of people that are doing the right thing.  Still, far too many people get far too entwined in their mistaken belief, that only that which is physical matters, when in reality, we are far better served to concentrate more on being in harmony with natural law, and rightful thinking.   

It is vital to realize that all of us, are meant to discover that we need to rise above our mortal consciousness to embrace that which is immortal so as to come to the self-realization that there is an inherent oneness that adjoins us all together; and in order to find that oneness, we need to rise well above our bodily confinement to that which will thus shatter the self-imposed delusion which so often blinds us to ultimate truth and enlightenment.

The other type of welfare – corporate welfare

There are plenty of people as well as corporations that decry about all of the welfare so provided to those that are the least amongst us, for such things as healthcare, food supplemental help, housing assistance, the Earned Income tax credit, and so on and so forth.  For a certainty, there is a significant amount of welfare so provided for those that are clearly needs-based, but none of this welfare so distributed, ever functionally takes care of the systemic issues so creating poverty in the first place. Additionally, we need to take into fair consideration the salient fact, that few people that are doing just fine, would ever willingly trade their current position to one in which they had handed out to them monetary benefits, but only under the condition that they live within the same disadvantaged neighborhoods and oppression of all types, that those that are the most underprivileged have to operate under, every single day.

In all candor, we need to take into full account, that welfare comes in all shapes, sizes, and flavors.  This signifies that there are many entities, and especially corporate entities, that while on the one hand, castigating those that are poor for being on the public dole, are themselves, despite often their very good profits, receiving a real form of welfare from their governance.  For instance, certain corporations, because of their size, power, and influence are able to get all sorts of benefits that the general public cannot avail themselves of, such as special property tax abatement set asides, as well as legislative monetary subsidies of all types, specifically setup for the benefit of particular corporations; along with also receiving massive income tax savings done through all sorts of avenues that are clearly outside of not only the letter of the law, but are a clear reflection of how the tax code favors those that have outsize influence, over regular folks.  So too, there are the massive billion upon billion dollar bailouts that permits these corporations to recklessly gamble in the sure knowledge that when their gamble succeeds, they thus shovel in boatloads of money, and when they notoriously fail, they are thus bailed out by the government, which in essence means that they are bailed out by the everyday taxpayers of this nation.

It has to be said, that there are few people that are poor that make out well from being on the public dole, as what is provided to them is often a very poor substitute to actually correcting the foundational problems that create such impoverishment and  poverty in the first place.  On the other hand, massive billion dollar corporations that make incredible profits, most every year, somehow have the audacity to insist that they get whatever privileges that they can obtain, by, for instance, exerting intensive pressure and influence upon legislatures – in addition to deliberately gaming the tax system, so that they can thus milk the general public and get even more money extracted by what has to be considered, grossly hypocritical means.

Indeed, while we should definitely have respect for an honest corporation, what we so find, is that some of the biggest and most profitable enterprises in this nation, are, in effect, welfare cheats of the worst kind.

We are no longer “private citizens”

There are indeed many advantages of living in this present age, with all of our modern conveniences, in which, most of us take these wonderful things such as the internet, indoor plumbing, electricity, clean water, reliable transportation, and so on and so forth, pretty much for granted.  That said, it has to also be taken into serious consideration, that never has this government, in addition to the corporate sector, known so much about its citizens, than this very era.  This signifies that the age of the private citizen, is effectively over, and every single one of us, rich to poor, young to old, has an incredible amount of information that is systematically being stored into dossiers by governmental as well as corporate authorities, of which, apparently there is very little that we can do about this, to circumvent or to ameliorate such.

For some people, perhaps they don’t have a real problem, with essentially living their life as in a “fishbowl,” which is fine then for them; the problem though is for all those other people that are uneasy about how much of their personal life is being kept in records of both governmental as well as corporate folders, in which these folders, contain information that is highly detailed and very specific to those individuals.   After all, it is one thing for a detail profile to be kept for those that are perceived enemies of the state, or are known criminals, and it is an entirely different thing to keep detail profiles of those that are essentially regular folk, who are fairly entitled to live a private life and would often prefer to have some degree of control over what information is disseminated about them, and the reason why.

Nowadays, private citizens, do not appear to have any safe havens, of which, they are instead of such, personally identified, and thus known quite well by government as well as corporate entities.  Yet, we so find that public corporations and public servants seem to daily violate the trust so provided to them by utilizing such information garnered from private citizens, as a way and means to often exploit them or to manipulate them.  In other words, those that supposedly work on behalf of private citizens, or are in the business of selling or providing things to those same citizens, are not themselves seemingly answerable to the private sector, but instead seem to concentrate almost exclusively upon how to utilize the information that they so obtain, to their advantage.

It would seem only fair, that each citizen of this nation, should have the right to get full and complete access to every dossier of theirs so created by governmental as well as corporate entities, and should at a minimum, be able to “opt out” of any and all information, that has no real pertinence to what a government, of, for, and by the people should have on its own citizens; as well as they should also be able to remove or neutralize almost in its entirety, any information contained about them, from private corporate actors.  In summary, all those that wish to engage with private citizens, should do so in a way and manner that takes into account our individual right to the sovereignty of our own personhood, and our Constitutional right to privacy.