so i went down to red clay this weekend, knowing already that my friends wouldn't be there on account of certain, we can call it family drama, well because that's what it is. and it just wasn't the same without them there, and the people who were there, they weren't from here, and they weren't as friendly towards me, except a few. one woman, i heard her call my friends "riff raff" in reply to somebody else commenting on what a good job they'd done this year. she didn't know they were my friends she was talking about. regardless, there wasn't that feeling of community like there usually was the other times i went there before, it was all just a show, put-on. and they did do a good job, it was all prettied up, drew in a lot more people, but not any of the people who should have been there, the ones for whom red clay is their/our church. i felt like an emissary in a way, for them, the ones who weren't there this time because i was being treated like i didn't belong by the ones who came from north carolina to put on a show for the local white people. ugh

and there wasn't any drumming... wtf is up with that?

why would we send our precious children to school?

it never fails to impress me just how much children learn when they aren't shackled to a school desk all day long busy not learning

there is nothing more necessary to a healthy society than raising children. this society, being unfriendly towards the work that mothers do, keeps itself sick by raising children in sick institutions instead of at home. just because we were all sent to school and institutionalized at a very young age, doesn't mean we should do that to our own kids. we know better, we can do better. they deserve better than that. the future of our world depends on it.

unless, of course, you are okay with raising yet another generation of brainwashed thugs. i'm not.

this about sums it all up

from my other blog:
http://mamaboogie.gaia.com/blog/2009/9/what-experiences-do-you-think-are-important-for-children-to-have#comments

What experiences do you think are important for children to have?

Posted on Sep 19th, 2009 by boogie

This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for September 18, 2009:

to play in the rain and the mud.
icecream for breakfast.
pony rides.
going to art museums.
the companionship of animals.
putting their feet in the ocean.

the poem aside, there is only one thing children need, and that is to make their own decisions. we maybe can guide them and help them figure out what is best, but we can't make their decisions for them. what children need is for grownups to realize this simple fact. if we set the children free, the entire world will follow. this i believe with all my heart. every mother knows good and well that babies are not born evil, they have to be taught how to do evil things. children know the difference between right and wrong, they don't need us to tell them what to do. they really don't. it's the ones who have been abused, never allowed their own choices to make, that don't know the difference between right and wrong. if we don't allow them to ever follow their heart, they will grow into adults who are unable to hear the truth their heart speaks to them.

the most important lesson i learned from my childhood was that when the pain gets too much, that's when the angels come. the most important lesson i learned as a parent was that it's the same abuse that causes the pain that makes them go away in the first place.

on freedom, revistited

would like to share with you all a little something I posted here:
http://friendstacy.gaia.com/blog/2008/1/from_lakota_oyate_with_comments

Greetings, everyone. I have many new friends here, you might not have read much of what I like to blog about. I'm an anarchist. I don't believe in governmental rule, period. This is how I interpret those truths revealed to me by my ancestors when I seek within for the answers. My ancestors, for the most part, are Lakota. I have to believe that there are other people in this world that share my viewpoint, but I can only take it on faith that they do, as they never replied when I asked for their assistance in the past. So this is my own personal truth, truth I found when I look within for answers. It does not come from the teachings of any human person, any book of ancient wisdom, any religious doctrine or political treatise.

I speak only for myself, from my heart. A very human heart. I believe in freedom. I believe it can really work, people can be free if they so choose to be. It is up to each individual person to make that decision, it cannot be made for them by others. THIS is my big problem with the world we live in today. Our decisions are all pre-made by those in control. We aren't granted autonomy, but sometimes the illusion of a choice is offered us. That makes people feel a little better and helps them sleep at night. I feel this current situation is unacceptable! I don't want the illusion of choices between options which represent false distinctions and are really all the same.

so, given the choice between Russel Mean's REPUBLIC and Bush's tyranny, who can possibly choose Bush? wrong. a new republic means nothing changes. a new republic means that Plato's plan for humanity is still in place. Government control of the people is not an option, no matter how sugar-coated it might be. In order to explain myself, I have to start with Plato. and we have to look into conspiracy theories that might make us uncomfortable. We have to learn about the globalist ruling elite, those few who run the whole show. And we have to search for truth in history, because most of it is lies. But most importantly, we have to break free of the operant conditioning from the indoctrination centers we know as schools and church.

We have to question our education first of all!! We must question all of it, every thing we hold to be true. We must ask "why do I believe this is true?" and if the answer is only because they told me to believe it, or if they threatened me with horribleness if I chose not to believe it, that means there are more questions that need to be asked.

My quest is not one for answers, but rather one for QUESTIONS!! I'm nowhere near learning Truth and Wisdom, or reaching some imaginary "enlightenment" - not me!! I'm still tearing down the false ideas I always thought were true. Things I was misled to believe. And as the lies crumble down, truth is left standing tall and strong and permanent.

Problem is, where those lies originated. The lies are told by those who seek to rule. They must lie to us in order to make us believe we want to be ruled. the parallels between politics and domestic violence are horrendous. They tell us we are stupid. They beat it into our brains with television and the non-stop onslaught of advertisements telling us to buy something. What they want us to buy aren't just the crap goods made by child slave labor in countries far far away. What they want us to buy is the whole package, this system that makes us slaves to the few in charge. and they're real good at it, too. Been doing it this way over 2000 years!

They make all decisions for us. Here are your rules, The Law. OBEY. Do not question authority, ever! If you do, horrible horrible things will happen to you. You might even spend eternity burning in hell. Plato planned it all out this way, check it out. The Republic isn't a difficult read, and you can find it online for free or at any public library. Plato's plan was to make the idea of the "good of the group" more important than anything else in society. this is how they get us to choose not to decide. Yes, it is a choice we make when we give the power to make decisions over to an authority. And I'm not saying that is always wrong. What I'm saying is that it is wrong when we are lied to in order to get us to make that choice. I'm saying it is wrong when someone chooses to rule others. What needs to happen is each person needs the freedom to make their own decisions, including the decision to follow any given leader at any given time for any given reason of their own. What needs to happen is for people to just simply start making their own decisions.

I do very strongly believe that people have the ability to be self-governing and not need government rule. Lots of other people have believed this throughout history, too. Lots of very intelligent, very highly respected people. Why is it that we still have government? What are we so afraid of that we can't trust ourselves and our fellow humans?

and back to Plato, just one last time. He left us a way out. Not by what is in The Republic, but what is missing from it. There is no mention of Socrates' Daimonion, his inner guiding voice, in all of The Republic. But it is a major part of most all other Socratic dialogues. This is our way out!! All we gotta do is listen to that inner voice that tells us right from wrong. The answer is right before us, ALL of us, each and every one! The only possible place you will ever find Truth, is from looking within. It's not from following the right poitician who claims to be fighting the corrupt system that supports his own extravagant way of life, or the right general into battle. It's not from listening to the right guru or believing in the right god. It's not from praying the right way or meditating on the right mountain or with the right people. It's something each person must decide for themselves.

It's up to you. What kind of world do your children deserve to inherit? Make it happen. Don't do what anyone else tells you to do, do what your heart says is right.

you don't know me very well, do you?

LOL! There's nothing like someone telling me to shut up to incite me to Sing louder. I'm honored that you would take your time to read what I blog about, and that it moved you to leave your comments. Thanks! What concerns me is your tone. I don't know what I ever did to upset you so. I'm not hurting anyone. My whole point in every one of my posts is that anything that hurts anyone else also hurts me. It seems so utterly obvious, this Golden Rule thing. It's all that really counts, you know?

here's how it works:
We start with what we know. What do I know? I know that I am a thinking thing. I know that I experience certain perceptions of things that exist apart from me. But I do not know that objective reality is actually there, all I know is that I perceive it to be. I see it, smell it, hear it, etc. But those perceptions occur subjectively, within that part of me that does the thinking. I know from experience, that I seem to interact with this objective reality. There appears to be some sort of cause and effect relationship. In order to most effectively interact with this objective reality, I must first assume that it is real, objectively, apart from myself. I take a leap of faith in believing this is how things are, but there is no basis for that belief other than expediency, pragmatism, because I have found through my experience that it is most useful to me to believe it is so.

With this in mind, I can now take a look at this objective reality, learn more about me through my interactions with IT. I see things that benefit me, I call them "good," and things that harm me, I call them "bad," but those things themselves are neither good and bad, that is just a label I give them, part of how my thinking me makes sense of the world. Good and Bad are judgments I make about things, as those things relate to me, personally.

Since I have chosen to believe that I am part of some objective reality, I must recognize that anything that hurts any part of this existence also hurts me and can thus be labelled "bad" - my experience verifies this to be true in every case.

I get to determine for myself what things I call "good" and which ones I call "bad" - not anyone else! Nobody knows better than I do what is good for me and what is not. I know to notice when things hurt me, and do something about it, so that my experience may be called a "good" one. In my own life, it is when I allow others to decide for me that I have a "bad" experience. If you are not liking the experience you are having, take a look at the choices you have made, or allowed others to make for you. Therein lies the answer.

a spring in my step

Now I understand the above phrase.

I had so much fun at the powwow this weekend over at Audubon Acres. Friday, I did a lot of talking. Saturday, I did a lot of listening. Sunday, I danced and shared some stories. I stomped my feet and had a blast! I noticed something really strange. I noticed that if you stomp exactly in time with the drum, the earth bounces your feet back up and it's much easier. That's how those people out west can stomp all night long, the earth is bouncing their feet for them.

When you see someone walking with a spring in their step, it's because they are following the beat of their inner drum. When you see this big goofy grin on my face that's because it's so much fun!

What if?

It's been a while since I blogged my own words. I'm feeling as though I have run out of words. I've said it already, anything I might have to say to you. So today, in advance celebration of the equinox tomorrow, let's suppose I'm right...

Imagine what the world might be like if all people chose to look within themselves for all the answers. Imagine a world without governments and wars, because each person would be self-governing. Each person would define for themselves what is right and wrong, and in so doing would learn to respect everyone else's autonomy. Just imagine! There would be no written laws, because the Law lies only in each person's heart. There would be no jails, no poverty, no abuses against humanity. Why is it that many people find this so hard to imagine? It's the only thing that really makes sense to me. I don't understand when people hurt people. I don't get it, why anyone would ever kill another person. There's no reason good enough. So what if I am right? What if everyone really does have the ability to know the difference between right and wrong, if they'd only look within and trust their intuition? What is stopping my dream from becoming reality?

Let's take this a step further. Let's imagine the above scenario is true. What would religion look like in such a world? What if religion were defined by each individual for themselves? What if nobody ever told anyone else what to believe? What not to believe? What if the fear were gone, and people were free to find their own Divinity, inside themselves? It would not be a godless world, as some philosophers have said. It would rather be a very magical world! Religion and spirituality would be as real and important to people's lives as the air we breathe or the water we drink, because nobody would make anyone else afraid to believe the truth that lies within.

What if?

what really matters

There are certain things that noone can take from me. My education, my heritage, things of that nature. When I graduated from college, finally, after ten years of going and quitting and going back and changing majors something like six different times, that was a huge accomplishment for me. I actually stuck with it and finished the job and that means an awful lot to me. And now that I know about my heritage and truly understand what that means to me, it's much the same as my education in that it is something totally truly mine, and nobody can ever take it away from me. That's important, you know, because there's no fear of losing it, ever.

Pride

No matter what amount of brainwashing, humiliation, torment, and torture they endure, some people still have their pride. This is the threat perceived by those who seek to control people. This is why the most proud people throughout history have always become targets for oppression and cruelty. If we all become targets, if we all learn to be proud, they can't zero in on any one of us.

the control game

The rules are simple, either control people or be controlled. Neitzsche, in Good vs. Evil, probably explained the Game in the most understandable terms (at least his explanation is the easiest for me to understand, even if I completely disagree with most of it), there is the herd and there are the Ubermensch who control the herd. Parents start teaching their children to play this Game from birth, and if they don't do a good job of it, the schools are there to further indoctrinate the people into the Game (but that's a whole 'nother post for a different day). What everyone seems to ignore is that to play the game at all, whether you obey or command others to obey, you must abdicate all responsibility for your own actions, blame or be blamed.

There is no more respect for autonomy, yours or anyone else's, when the rules state so very clearly that noone is to be allowed to make their own decisions, to define for themselves what is right or wrong. And the self is destroyed in the process. I know some of these selfless people. I find it hard to believe they have no depth of character, that the appearance, what other people think of them, really is all that matters. The more I try to scratch beneath the surface, the more meaningless fluff I find. It seems to me that in the process of giving others the power to make all decisions for them, giving others the power to define who they are, they have so lost touch with themselves that nobody else can ever really know who they are either. Is that what life is all about? I find it quite frightening that for many people, the answer is yes.

you know what? we don't have to play the Game at all, we can opt for freedom and autonomy instead. the only thing that keeps any of us playing is our own fear. I recognize that my fears (and I might say I ain't skeered, but you know I am the same as everyone else, it's just my fears are more exposed to scrutiny) impede my ability to make important decisions and I turn to others for the answers and give away my power and my autonomy. What I need to remember is that it is my power to use or to give it away. I cannot make informed decisions if I am not well enough informed, and it would serve me well to recognize this fact and to choose wisely whom I allow to make certain decisions for me. When an authority grants me neither the information nor the chance to decide, I am very wary of allowing them to decide for me, and rightly so because they are playing a Game I don't want to play anymore.

the rot in our government

let's try a little experiment. Google the words "government" and "rot" and see what you get. I got over 2 million articles and websites. Pick a few just out of curiosity's sake and you find people who claim that they know the solution, that it is a fixable problem. You'll find lots of people who call themselves Democrats, in particular, asserting that their policies are the only answer, they will save us from the evil that our government has become. Do you really believe that? honestly?

allow me to indulge in another little metaphor. Suppose your body has a huge gaping wound, one that has been allowed to become infected. The infection has been neglected for so long that it is festering and growing. Puss oozes out of it, stinking and dripping on the floor, contaminating everything it touches. Unseen, it has started to spread internally to all parts of the body. What would you do? Slap a bandaid on it and call it cured? Well, that's what those liberals, the Democrats, the ACLU, even some Republicans like Ron Paul, are proposing we do. They want to cover up the infection, the rot, with a piece of paper we call the Constitution. Hiding the rot from view while the infection continues to fester and spread internally.

*sigh* I'm all out of steam... and getting rather discouraged by watching the people I know and love be so manipulated by the media which is manipulated by the same rot that controls the government. WAKE UP DAMMIT!!! ...before it's too late...

mind control, continued from yesterday

step three (step two would be to force parents to distrust their own instincts when it comes to parenting, and have them distance themselves from their baby who needs them and relies upon them for everything) - institutionalized education. suppress the urge to ask questions, silence all those "whys" that children naturally ask. Make them stand in line, raise their hands and only speak when spoken to, make them dress a certain way, act a certain way, and teach them how to fill in little circles on tests. Forget educating them, teach them to memorize the answers for the tests so they don't have to learn anything. Reward conformity and obedience, punish anyone who exercises their free will or expresses any hint of autonomy.

but see, it doesn't always work, does it? I was born in a hospital, taken from my mother and not allowed to see her for the first 30 hours of my life. Fortunately, my grandmothers both worked in that hospital, and I was held by one or the other of them as much as possible. My early childhood training consisted of strict adherence to Dr. Spock and his evil pink book they gave my mother at that same hospital when they sent her home without me (nowadays it's Ferber). It was my mother's belief that babies should be weaned from breast to bottle when they start getting teeth, mine didn't come in until after my first birthday, lucky me. I was given shots that always left me feeling very ill for a very long time, but it was for my own good, you know. I went to public school, but probably too many different public schools as we moved around a lot when I was a kid. I went to school with the poorest white kids in rural Virginia (because even in the 70's segregation was alive and well in that fine state), and with the intellectual's kids in Connecticut, and even at such a tender age recognized the differences in how the schools functioned, which logically led to the conclusion that the different schools had different agendas. We didn't watch much tv, sometimes we didn't even own a working television (which led to much derision and ridicule at the hands of the other kids in school, I must say).

The almighty television. Oh my! When Pinky asks Brain "what are we going to do tonight?" and Brain says, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!" why wasn't television the main theme of every single episode? It seems to me that people are so afraid to think for themselves, that they will believe anything the television tells them to believe, without question. The TV said Bush won the election, and most people quietly accepted that as fact. Those of us who disagreed were ridiculed and harrassed until we shut the fuck up about it. It was the TV that made mystics and conspiracists a pack of raving lunatics. It was TV that made David Koresh an evil madman, deserving of his fate (a fate that not even the most truly evil person should ever have to endure). It is TV that makes people living in the US without proper documentation "illegal." I can see no other reason for anyone to believe those things, but tv says it is so and the sheeple quietly follow the herd (whether there really is a herd to follow, or only actors playing one remains to be seen)....

MKULTRA and the CIA

"What an attack on the independence of a person’s mind represents is an attack on the very principle of self-ownership. It would not be hyperbole to say that if any government went about a plan of forcibly tampering with the volitional abilities of the human person, such a government would have engendered itself with an evil beyond that of any, or indeed all, previous man-made evils. No slave-master, however cruel, could reach the deepest caverns of the mind. No slave, however coercive the duress which he suffered, was ever robbed of the ability to morally judge the actions he was forced to carry out. Without a mind, the individual person ceases to exist." link


The experiments showed the methods to be effective. We are not allowed to make our own decisions, and most people seemingly welcome the chance to delegate responsibility to an authority. There is no longer any need to keep MKULTRA a secret from the people. We are under the spell. Well, enough are anyway.

For example (just one of many), women experience it during pregnancy and when giving birth, the most natural of all body functions. we are treated as though we have a disease and the doctors have the cure. we are tested and poked and prodded regularly, starting shortly after the fertilized egg implants into our womb. We are told what to eat, and given long lists of foods to avoid, other long lists of things we cannot do. nothing we say we know makes any difference if the machines do not agree. Extra pressure is applied to those women who insist upon listening to their bodies and their hearts rather than obeying the all-mighty doctor. Birth, which has the potential for being the most empowering experience known to humankind, becomes something so traumatic that we seek medications to make the (primarily emotional) pain go away.

Then, as if to make matters worse, baby is taken away from Mother and poked and prodded, given injections containing harmful chemicals. Some babies are even brutally mutilated (dare I call it sexual abuse?) for no reason other than fashion. Baby is told when to eat, what to eat, how much to eat. Mothers who breastfeed find this very difficult indeed, as baby doesn't know the rules. Baby learns that Mother cannot protect him from the authorities, right from the get-go. Baby learns to be afraid, because Mother is afraid.

edit to add link to more articles about MKULTRA

Zeitgeist movie ... my review, part I

link

I was rather disappointed with the first part of the movie. The problem, when dealing with spirituality, is that we are attempting to talk objectively about the ultimate in subjective experiences/beliefs.

Organized religions take the "I AM" out of it, and screw it up terribly by pointing to some man-made objective "absolute" truth instead, and have most definitely been used by the oppressors to control the people throughout history.

But that doesn't mean there isn't something in their teachings that touches that part of us, deep down inside, that recognizes Spirit, Truth, Nature, God, whatever you wanna call the indescribable. I don't think that pointing out the similarities between different religions proves anything one way or another.

Some of the changes I perceive happening right now are spiritual in nature. I've encountered lots of those "One Love" people (I think that's what some are calling it), and I feel what it is they are feeling, though I have a slightly different take on it, but that's just how I am. I recognize them on the street or in the grocery store or the post office, and it's truly an amazing thing to feel love pouring out at you from strangers, and to give it back in return. It's even more amazing to pour love out at someone you don't know, someone who looks like they are having a really bad day, and to watch their face light up and come alive!

We are not souls trapped inside bodies, waiting to be freed (which, by the way, is a Platonic notion, not a Christian one, but ask most Christians if they do believe in some sort of body/soul duality...). We are a combination of spirit, body, life, and mind ...water, earth, air, and fire. Ignore any one of those aspects, and the others suffer. Yes, the mind of the people has atrophied due to public education among other things. This is very important. But our spirit has also atrophied due to organized religion. Our bodies are not healthy due to polution and environmental toxins, food allergies gone neglected, not to mention overuse of medications, vaccinations, and other forms of "preventive" medicine. As for life, that is what animates us. I'm not sure most people even know what that is anymore, it is such a foreign concept to the way we live today. I suggest that the goal, however, is to be fully alive, to live our own lives rather than the lives others have chosen for us.

To my point of view, the many different ways organized religions have been used to enable abuse against the people are very very important. I think this film missed the mark, slightly. But, it would take several more hours to explain what it is I'm trying to say, just as regards xtianity alone, much less address any of the other world's religions. I suppose the people who made Zeitgeist ran into the same time constraints and chose the bits they felt to be the most important, or perhaps the most thought-provoking...

Zeitgeist

link

yeah, it's two hours long, and I'm still making my way through it a little at a time. But several people have recently recommended I watch this. I'm not the one who needs to see it. I already know these things, I already agree with (most) of the information being presented in this movie. But those who would benefit most from this don't get it, won't get it, refuse to get it, because they are afraid to know the truth.

I come back to the abused wife analogy time and time again. I think what hurts the most is knowing there is nothing I can do to help people who aren't willing (for whatever reason) to help themselves. People are so into playing the blame game, always looking for someone to blame for everything "bad" in their world, they lose sight of the fact that they are responsible for their own actions, no matter how controlled or manipulated they might be. Nothing I say is going to make a difference. There is no way I can force anyone to grow a backbone and start standing up for themselves, there is no magic information that I could share that would tell people how to start thinking for themselves, if I could, that would defeat the whole purpose anyway. I know that sooner or later, they will realize the extent to which their lives, and even their beliefs, are not their own. Sooner or later people will turn to introspection for their own answers. I can only pray that it's not too late.

edit:
Whoa! Those last 20 minutes are really something else...

and more on m-theory and monadology

for those who may be interested:
link1 m-theory
link2 Leibniz's Monadology
granted, those links take you to wikipedia, and are quite limited in depth, and seem to totally miss the whole point... But it's a start, and if you can read that without falling asleep, you might want to grab some more technical books on the subject(s) (there are several English translations of Leibniz's text available online for free). Just don't let what Wikipedia says about these ideas override your own thoughts on the matter when/if you do explore better sources of information.

edit: And just how is this important to me, to my life? I think when scientists do find that unified theory they are seeking, it will change everyone's life, permanently, in a very big way. It will totally change the way we think about ourselves and our place in the "universe." And it won't be technical mumbo-jumbo, it will be totally understandable, even for the smallest child with the most limited vocabulary. I feel as though I have a glimpse of what that theory might look like, but my perspective is much too limited to grasp it in its entirety (hm... I'm probably overcomplicating things instead). I propose that it should be called i-theory...

m-theory

(in response to an entry in Stephen Hawking's blog on myspace and a tv show I saw the other day on the Science Channel)

I don't know what Bayes Statistics are, but I am having a real hard time comprehending why a scientist would use an a-priori argument. Are not all scientists empiricists by definition? If not, does that mean the distinction between science and philosophy is as fuzzy as it always used to be until modern times? Regardless, the first leap of faith we all make is in believing that there is anything in existence beyond our own perceptions of that existence. If all science is based upon such a fundamental leap of faith, does that make what you say about the universe any less scientific? Should scientists not be working with philosophers and ideas instead of numbers and equations to find that elusive unified theory? The more I understand, the more questions I have...

If the "M" really stands for monad then m-theory starts to make a little more sense to this student of philosophy. And if that is so, it's not a new idea, it's just a different way of expressing the same ideas Leibniz had 200 years ago....???

Why is there a need to overcomplicate explanations to the point where hardly anyone can understand what you are talking about? It seems that when many modern philosophers do it (at least the ones I've spoken with personally), it serves to create within themselves some sort of feeling of superiority, else it hides the fact that they don't know what they are talking about. If their big words are utter nonsense most people would be afraid to argue against them or admit it makes no sense for fear it would make them look the fool.

In order for science to change the world for the better (which I have no doubt it could), scientists need to speak to the people instead of only to each other. The people aren't stupid, they could totally understand if you gave them half a chance, and if they only believed in their ability to understand science. But we must be speaking the same language in order to understand what the other has to say. Scientific mumbo-jumbo only serves as a language barrier between scientists and the rest of humanity. If your ideas are important enough to people, people would have no problem understanding them. Show us why we should care! There is so much we could learn from you, if the door were only open wide enough for you to learn from us as well...

Using mathematical equations in attempt to explain the mysteries of the universe engenders the same sort of mistake philosophers make when they speak of their own subjective perceptions using objective language. There are certain things that human language (even the most complex human languages of mathematical equations) cannot adequately describe or explain. It is not a flaw in reasoning or of the ideas themselves, but rather a mistake in the way we talk about those ideas. Eventually, at some point in the argument you are going to have to rely upon a subjective leap of faith instead of objective empirical evidence. Only if we can all agree upon that original basic leap of faith can we have any sort of intelligent discussion about anything.

don't be afraid!!!

I want to share with you all a true story that happened to me just yesterday. Commondreams.org (that would be the Democrat's version of the news) finally ran a story on NSPD-51. I was so shocked to see it that I had to read the whole thing, comments and all, all the way through. As I was reading, I started becoming more and more afraid and I totally freaked out on my family! I kid you not! I had to be reminded of everything I've been saying these last few weeks before I could see reason again. So, lest you missed it somehow, or have been reading certain versions of the news that I think for now we'll just call FearSpeak, here it is in a nutshell...

People are NOT as stupid as the media and government and other abusive authorities wish us to believe they are. Everyone, every single one of us, has the ability to look inside ourselves to know the difference between right and wrong. More and more people are doing just that rather than allowing the authorities to tell them what to do. Surely a revolution must happen, but it does not have to be the frightening militaristic one certain groups use to feed our fears. It does not have to be the Biblical armageddon other groups use to feed our fears, either. We have the power to create the change we want to happen. Each of us, all of us! Don't doubt it, because we really do.

FEAR is the real enemy, not other people. I don't care who they are or where they live or what god they pray to, people are not the enemy! It is our fear which binds us to those who wish the power to control us. But we can all be free. Every last one of us can really be free. The time is NOW! Not tomorrow, certainly not next fall when the election doesn't happen. We can be free of oppression. We can be free from those who seek to abuse us, who seek to control us, tell us what to do, how to act, and even what to believe. We all have it inside us, a guiding voice, an intuition, and that is all we need. We simply need to recognize that we deserve autonomy, the chance to make our own decisions for ourselves. People are not bad inside, we have been brainwashed to believe that's true, but it's not. People only choose to do harm to other people when they have never been allowed the chance to make their own decisions and are afraid to trust in themselves, to listen to their hearts to lead them.

Anarchy isn't like you'd see in some big scary post-apocalyptic movie, it's about freedom! How can we ever be free if we continue to allow them to tell us what to do, rather than looking inside our hearts for the answers? How can we not be free, once we realize that the power to change things is with us, inside us, already? The people really do have the power, it's not just a cool song or a speech by someone who was murdered long ago by those who were afraid. We can create the change we want. But we must not be afraid. We must believe we can change things. We must believe in ourselves, and in our fellow people. It's all about freedom, and it can be reality. We have it in our grasp already. Look inside your heart, the answers are already there.

rambling reply not posted on someone else's blog

link (I'm not finished editing this, but gonna post it now regardless. Check back, it may change drastically before the day is over...)

hm... you all know my story by now? DD1 - incredibly highly managed pregnancy, c-section (not necessary, IMO, rather made necessary because of doctor intervention), unable to breastfeed, FTT, blah blah blah... okay, bear with me, this ties in to a deeper issue. I had no faith at all in myself, everything worked against me to not trust myself or my body to do anything right.
why is it that DD2 was born naturally, breastfed no problem, and now I'm unschooling both girls? It's because of what happened with DD1's horrible birth. My heart was screaming at me, telling me she was okay. I chose not to listen to my gut and placed my trust in the doctors and nurses instead. Look where that got me! They used my own fears against me, in order to force me to obey.

Here's what I think the deal is. We are being abused whenever any authority figure places a higher importance on what they want us to do than on what we know deep down inside is right. What happens when people are abused? Either they lay down and take it, somehow convince themselves they want it that way, or they fight back. I was pushed too far and I fought back (everyone has their own breaking point). I think most people will someday stop taking it, start trusting their instincts, and fight for what they know, deep in their hearts, to be right. They have to, else the human race is doomed.

I don't think it's men vs. women. I think that's another way to keep us fighting amongst ourselves rather than working together to make the world a better place. Okay, bear with me... going back to your original post... way back around 400bce Plato wrote in his Republic that public education was one of the best ways for those in power to ensure that they would remain in power. we have been trained all our lives never to question authority, and to not believe in ourselves. It just so happens that the authority has usually rested in the hands of abusive men. Our social structure, our organized religions, have all served to enable men to abuse women, but the men are not the enemy, the established order of things which creates this system of abuse is at the root of the problem.

History continues to repeat itself over and over again, everywhere you look. Anyone who tries to tell us to believe in ourselves, to trust our hearts or our instincts is ostracized, ridiculed, and/or murdered by the authorities. It's all part of a much bigger picture, but the solution is simple. We need to replace our faith in those authorities with faith in ourselves. But first we need to recognize that it is our own fear that allows them to control us. People are not the enemy, no matter what they say or do, FEAR is the real enemy we should all be working together to fight!!

who needs school?

School's out for summer, that is, for some kids. We do our version of unschool every day and don't recognize summer vacation as anything different. So the other day, my kids were playing with the neighbor's grandkids. Lovely boys, I knew their father when I was a kid. They are a few years older than my oldest kid, and have always played really nice with the girls, even littlest one. Anyway, one of them was talking about school, asked where J goes to school. I told him she doesn't go to school, that she's homeschooled instead. He proceeded to tell me very seriously that she *needs* to go to school. I asked him why (I'm not above debating with a child, if that's the only person who cares to start with me). So the washing machine stopped and I had to grab the laundry and put it on the line, so the debate ended with me saying "she does go to school, she just does it at home."
As I was hanging the wash on the line, the children somehow packed themselves (both of my girls, plus the triplet boys) in our rather small sandbox, which is right beside my clothesline.

Same boy started to tell my kids what he feels are the most important things he is learning in school... He told them to never trust strangers, that you should always trust your family, your parents and your grandparents, your aunts and uncles, and your cousins, but you should never trust any strangers ever. I let him get his shpiel out before I disagreed. I said "that's not always true! You should always listen to your heart to tell you who you should trust or not." Didn't want to get into how most every single person I know who was victimized as a child, the perpetrator was a family member or close family friend, so I said, "how are you ever going to make new friends if you never trust strangers?" He said, "but they might hurt you. They might kill you!!" I said, "but they might not. They might be wonderful people and you'd never know it because you don't trust them." He started repeating what he has already said, verbatim, like it's been drilled into his head that way. I said "I don't believe that and I don't want my children thinking it is true." J stepped in at that point and said, "It's okay, Mama, I know not to believe it." end of conversation.

The next most important thing he learned in school is to never use bad words, said that makes you a bad person. Okay, you who know me can picture my eyes buggin out of my head at this point. I simply said you aren't a bad person if you aren't hurting anyone, it's just words. He repeated the pre-packaged shpiel verbatim, then added, "but it's okay sometimes like when your Mommy gets really upset with you,,, and boys cuss a lot, too." I turned around at that point, couldn't contain myself any longer and said, "I cuss a lot, too." Everyone got very quiet. I hung another pair of jeans on the line before I added, "I'm just real careful not to cuss around people who don't like to hear those words. Some people get really upset about it when you cuss." Brother said "Yeah, like teachers." We all agreed that one should never ever use cuss words around teachers, it makes them go crazy. LOL

This, at least from these particular children's perspectives (I believe they attend one of the better local christian schools), are the important things they are learning in school and why my kids should go. hmmm... Of course, academically, J is right about the same level they are and they have been in school for several years now while she is officially just finishing kindergarten, but that's not what matters. What really matters is that you behave a certain way, otherwise you are a bad person. What really matters is that you never trust people you don't know. EEEK!