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The Hidden Cost of the Holidays

Issues

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December 23, 2014

This clipart is what most people in developed countries think when Christmas comes to mind. Unfortunately, it only represents a portion of reality.

I had an epiphany after Christmas of 2008. My family and extended family (including those who are not blood relatives) have done an immense amount to help take me through troublesome times and have given so much to me. So usually what I would do during Christmas is take out a loan on my visa, and suffer with the interest charges until I paid it back. This was at a time in which I barely had enough money to buy groceries each week. To me, at the time, it was worth it to make them happy to see my gifts. And I felt like I owed them, which in a sense I did and do, but I was repaying them in totally the wrong way. I had no idea of what the total scope of my actions were doing.

Carey and Angela Price are two people who are well known for their philanthropy. Carey is the starting goaltender for the Montréal Canadiens of the NHL, and both Carey and Angela have used their fame and fortune as a leverage point to give back to their community. They also set a great example for what we all should be doing during Christmas.

When they receive a gift from friends, they return it to their friends, citing that they have more than enough material possessions and do not need anything further. They encourage the gift givers to pay it forward to someone else. They also make a donation in each family member’s name to a charity, instead of giving a gift.

It is easy to say that just because Carey and Angela are wealthy, that they can afford to do that and I can’t. But you do not have to be multi-millionaire to have a house full of stuff that you do not need, or to be encompassed in materialism.

There are many less fortunate families who invest a large portion of what little they have and go in to debt all because of the social pressures of the holidays. And as mentioned, there are poor university students who can barely feed themselves who do the same. Is this really a financially sustainable and healthy way of living?

Ask yourself these two questions as well. How many gifts have been given to you over the course of your life? How many of these gifts do you still have?

And also this one: How many of these gifts do you use regularly?

The answers are probably as follows: A ton, not very many, and even less.

There are also many other more serious reasons as to why we should all adopt the Price’s lifestyle choices as well. Yes, I admit that there are times in which we need to purchase items, that is reality. But we can no longer ignore the fact that when we purchase items in excess, we are just giving our power right back to millionaires and billionaires.

The salary of Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, was over 23 million dollars in 2013. This is 1,034 times more than what the average employee of Wal-Mart makes. Target’s CEO, Gregg Steinhaufel, made over 17 million in the same year, which is 597 times more than what the average employee of Target makes.

Even if you are making a low end 6-figure salary per year, their salaries are still over 170 times greater than yours. Why throw so much of your hard-earned money right back to the top of the financial pyramid?

It is even more disheartening to see families who are living below the poverty line throwing their money right back to the very people who keep them as minimum wage (or just above) slaves. We are all people with varying abilities, and some people in this world just are not capable of getting out of such a position, no matter what some of us might say. We need people to work in stores if we want to have stores. If Mike Duke died tomorrow, or all of the workers in Wal-Mart died tomorrow, which would have a greater effect on the company? Not only are businesses like Wal-Mart and Target not offering a fair wage, they are capitalizing on the social pressures which are contributing to keep them disempowered.

I can hear what some people are saying now. “But it is their choice whether or not they want to buy stuff at these outlets.” That’s absolutely correct. And what I am saying is because of the reasons that are listed in this article, people should choose other options over the holidays instead, such as buying local, buying second hand, giving to charities, and making their own gifts.

Let’s explore the effects that our consumption habits have on the rest of the world. We need to recognize that it is not the workers and poor of first world countries who are the most disempowered people. It is the workers of labour camps who work in unholy conditions.

Try and find one person in North America who has not made a purchase which was made from child labor. I am guilty of this as well. I have made changes in my life recently in that respect, but I have still done it. We are all guilty of this crime, and this needs to change.

Workers slave away at Foxconn, where there was a recent PR disaster with respect to workers committing suicide. One of their solutions, instead of paying them a fair wage, was to put suicide nets on the outside of their buildings, catching workers who may try to make the plunge.

It is no secret that most of the toys and clothes that we buy are made in places such as China and Bangladesh by workers whose wages are astronomically low. Foxconn, located in China, is a work camp which assembles technology. They pay workers roughly 179 dollars per month. They work about 12 hour per day or more, and rarely get days off. Apple is their biggest name, but other companies such as Sony, Nintendo, Amazon, HP and Dell all do business with them as well. If you own something from these companies, chances are it was in a Foxconn work camp.

Also, many of us do not realize that if you are purchasing a diamond for a significant other, chances are that you did not know that it is coming from blood and sweat of young slaves. Many of these workers are 8 to 16 years of age and facing conditions such as starvation, breathing in fragments of minerals and debris which can cause serious illness, and working around the malaria virus. Many are young males recruited from the poorest of communities of Africa for this. This is another clear example of corporations capitalizing on the misfortune of others, and we are equally to blame as we support them with our money.

However it is important to note that we do not typically wake up with the intention of supporting such malfaisant companies, it is just that crimes against humanity are so far removed that we do not see first hand their effects on society. Therefore, they are easy for us to ignore. This is clearly done intentionally by the powers that be; if it were our own brothers and sisters working under such conditions, there is no way that we would be so quick to support these entities with our money.

But in reality, these are our brothers and sisters. We are all human and we need to embrace this fact to get rid of not only this, but the racism, war and bigotry that exists today.

So while we are empowering millionaires and billionaires, we are also simultaneously disempowering those who work in horrifying and slave-like conditions. All of this is without even mentioning the obvious toll that the transportation of these products takes on the environment.

Let’s ask ourselves another set of questions and try to respond to them honestly. How many people view a part of Christmas as a sort of social competition? How many people evaluate and subconsciously rank people by the quality of gifts that they gave you and how much you perceive that was spent on those gifts? How many people have gossiped behind a gift giver’s back, saying that their gift was too cheap or not “good” enough for them, compared to what others have given you?

This is a silent reality of the holidays, and quite frankly it is a sign that the way we think about the holidays is wrong on so many levels. Look at where most of our gifts come from; how spoiled are we for even entertaining these notions in our head?

And you cannot totally blame the individual on this one. Just look at the influence and pressure from media and corporations on our society.

The “What did you get?” ad campaign from Target is a prime example of the erroneous mindset that is cast on to us from youth. Not what did you give, but what did you get. And we allow our children, the future of this planet, to absorb this garbage from the mainstream media without even giving it a second thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62pdXp3veG0

The De Beers diamond ad campaign is directed more towards engagement rings, but we cannot ignore the fact that there is an ample amount of jewelery purchased during the holidays as well.

Nobody knows for sure if God exists or not. But to all you Christians out there, please know that if he does exist, he is not happy with the way that we celebrate his son’s birthday.

This article seems to imply that we should radically change the system we live in. That is an accurate assessment, but we must remember that sustainable and effective change takes time. So what can we do for now?

Buy second-hand gifts, buy gifts locally, use your creative side to make your own gifts, and give to charities in other people’s name. And do not just do this during the holidays, make it a new part of your life. Just start by making small changes and make an effort to move in a more positive direction. That is all we can do.

Sources:

Prices Small Gestures Make a Difference
Walmart CEO Pay
Riot Suicides and Other Issues at Foxconn
Apples iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China
Giving Back Way of Life
Walmart Probe is Not Reflection of Company Says Internal Memo
Bah Humbug

Why Moderation is the Key to Health & Happiness

Sustainability

Gary Z McGee

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December 21, 2014

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Why Moderation is the Key to Health & Happiness

“It takes tremendous courage to resist the lure of appearances. The power of being which is manifest in such courage is so great that the gods tremble in fear of it.” – Paul Tillich

No matter how long we’ve been traveling on the wrong road, we can always cut a new path toward a healthier one. There is always an opportunity to change course. One of the more powerful ways of changing course is to live more moderately.

In a fast-paced world filled with faster-paced gadgets connecting us to vast amounts of information with faster and faster speeds, the time has never been more critical to moderate our lives. The lighter our load, the lighter we will feel. The less we own of the world, the more we are able to relate to the world. Indeed, the lighter we become, the more our inner light will shine.

Ownership is a tricky concept. We never really “own” anything. It’s borrowed, at best. And the more thing-things-things that pile up in our lives, the sharper our dissociation to reality becomes, and the more alienated we feel. Even the gadgets that connect us seem to separate us somehow, as the illusion of connection overwhelms and suppresses the need for it.

The more useless things we mindlessly own, the more we become trapped in a kind of materialistic fissure. Our piles and piles of “stuff” become like pseudo-armor, a false safety net that closes in on us and prevents us from seeing the bigger picture.

Like Peter Matthiessen said, “The armor of the “I” begins to form, the construction and desperate assertion of separate identity, the loneliness: Man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through the narrow chinks of his cavern.”

Understand: I’m not saying we shouldn’t own things. We are just as much technological creatures as we are social ones. An axe is technology. Clothes are technology. Even shoes are technology.

In a hostile world, a vulnerable species like ours must have technology in order to survive. I’m saying that –in order to be healthy and sustainable creatures who understand that they are living on a finite planet with finite resources within a delicate ecosystem– we should not own more than we need to survive and to prosper.

Like Janine Benyus said, “We’re basically this very young species, only 200,000 years old. We’re one of the newcomers, and we’re going through the same process that other species go through, which is, how do I keep myself alive while taking care of the place that’s going to keep my offspring alive?”

One answer is to live moderately, to live simply, to live in a balanced way, and to be a force of healthy equilibrium instead of a force of unhealthy imbalance.

As it stands, the human race has become a force of unhealthy imbalance on this planet: a scourge of contemptuous creatures caught up in their own insecurity and narcissism. We unthinkingly dig up the earth and tear down trees to feed our wants while ignoring our needs.

Even worse, we ignore the needs of the ecosystem which is the very thing that’s keeping us alive. Humankind can be both parasitic and symbiotic; both bee and locust. We can choose to act like a bee: in symbiosis with nature, creating beauty, harmony, and honey; or we can choose to act like a locust: rigid, consuming, and destructive.

We are free to change and manipulate our environment in both healthy and unhealthy ways. As a culture, we seem to have chosen the way of the locust, and the way of the bee is suffering along with all that is beautiful and healthy in this world. Like John Sawhill said, “A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy.” So what will you choose to create? What will you refuse to destroy?

So what can we do? How can we possibly transform our lifestyles enough to make a real difference, while also maintaining our own survival? One powerful thing we can do is question things, question everything: society, culture, religion, politics, technology, the media, and especially ourselves.

Like Kevin Kelly said, “Machines are for answers; humans are for questions. In the world that Google is constructing—a world of cheap and free answers—having answers is not going to be very significant or important. Having a really great question will be where all the value is.”

Indeed, the game changers and world changers making all the difference in the future will not be the ones with all the answers, but the ones with the best questions.

But discovering new and effective questions requires that we live moderately enough to where we can breathe, and quietly enough to where we can think clearly. Like Pascal said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

Another thing we can do is seek out the guidance of nature. Nature is a boon of knowledge on how to live moderately and in balance. Indeed, all wisdom begins first with nature: the best of guides; and second with pain: the worst of guides.

Pain aside, Derrick Jensen’s “language older than words” is a language that can and must be learned if we are to discover (or more succinctly, rediscover) a healthy way of living in harmony with the planet. We need only listen.

Like Hermann Hesse said, “Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.” It is on us to learn this ancient law of life, lest we doom ourselves to the ancient law of entropy. The wisdom yet to be discovered in nature is mindboggling, and it is there waiting for us to stumble upon it, or simply to listen to the harmony of its truth that’s been singing softly since the beginning of life. Like Bill Plotkin said, “What you find in nature is what works. It wouldn’t be there if it didn’t. Boundless wisdom awaits.” And it’s on us to tap into this wisdom.

“One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.”
–William Wordsworth, The Tables Turned

At the end of the day, the best strategy toward living a more moderate lifestyle is to first forgive ourselves. When we can forgive ourselves of our past transgressions: living outside our means, living immoderately, living unthinkingly and unsustainably; we liberate ourselves to being less transgressive in the future.

Forgiveness helps us to let go of what has been holding us back. Like Lily Tomlin said, “Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.” We must give up hope for a better past. Our past is what it is: mass-destructive, overreaching, anthropocentric, and narcissistic. But there’s no reason our future cannot be healthier. We just have to get back to the essential aspect of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest,” which is NOT competition, or who ends up with the most “stuff.” That’s just a myth. It’s cooperation, and who ends up with the healthiest relationships and the most robust experiences.

Wake Up Call

Image source:

Taleb quote
Skull Hive by Luke Dwyer
Einstein quote
Balloon girl
Life in Moderation

Connecting Sacred Geometry and Spirituality with Daniel Kage

Artwork

Garima Roy

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December 20, 2014

3

Connecting Sacred Geometry and Spirituality with Daniel Kage

“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.” – Pythagoras

Every single matter in the Universe is based on geometric shapes. From the most minuscule particles, atoms, cells, molecules, to the greater Cosmos, follow geometrical archetypes underlying the principle of oneness.

Daniel C. Kage, a master geometer and sculptor based in Vienna, Austria, explores Nature’s randomness and elaborates hidden patterns through his incredible 3D creations. His ingenious craft to display Mandalas is inspired by Japanese art of Origami and it reflects the connection between nature, the Universe and the spiritual world.

In this interview, Daniel discusses his quest to spread the knowledge of Sacred Geometry through his art. He talks about his inner connectedness with nature and importance of bringing ancient knowledge in modern times.

1) What is the connection between geometrical shapes and spirituality?

The geometric shapes found in Sacred Geometry reveals us the Secret Codes of the Universe. As I delve deep in this magnificent science through research, it becomes more clear that every single life manifestation on Earth comes from the same source. We are all connected by the Creator. The Sacred Geometric forms are very powerful mandalas that allow us to connect to higher dimensions.

The inspiration of my art is based in all life manifestation, in natural patterns, designs and structures from the most minuscule particles to the whole cosmos. It is dedicated to bringing the power of sacred geometry, the ancient knowledge and the majestic patterned geometric beauty of Creation to our modern world.

Since I have arrived in Vienna, I’ve dedicated myself entirely to this universe, the research on Sacred Geometry and 3D Geometric Mandalas, using different techniques of folding papers.

15430_10152374489975947_6590307897221852536_n — Dancing Shiva Dome. Dome based in the Dodecahedron. A Fusion of the Element Ether that is symbolising the Universe and the constant movement of Destruction and transformation, seeking the evolution of our spiritual world. The technique applied is called Modular Kirigami. Made of only straight shapes.

549227_10150608902920947_2137883412_n — Here we have a kusudama 薬玉, medicinal balls in Japanese, where the ancients placed incense and medicinal herbs in them, and often the left in the rooms of people for their cure. This is the basis of a dodecahedron.

2) Why sacred geometry?

Since childhood, I have been fond of Origami, the Japanese art of folding papers. Therefore, I naturally developed interest in creating 3D forms out of a single sheet of paper. I am passionate about Geometry, Art and Nature.

Shapes are part of me and of everything in the Universe. Nature provides us that, we just have to be connected, look beyond our third eye and feel. These “visions” started in 2002 through many psychedelic experiences. During that time I discovered this other beautiful world which for me is the true and real world. It was like a blessing from the Universe, an awakening to the enlightenment. It was a rebirth!

Donut — This takes the form of the famous “donuts”. Called Torus geometry is a surface generated by the rotation of a circle in 3-dimensional space onto the shaft coplanar a circle, forming a kind of ring. This form is a Parang found in nature from atoms to galaxies. Can be observed in a seed, a hurricane or even in the electromagnetic field that surrounds the man and the Earth.

3) Is sacred geometry the doorway to understanding greater aspects of ourselves?

Understanding the Hidden Codes of the geometric shapes is to understand how the Creator built the Universe. As we are all connected, it brings us consciousness, increasing the most important values amongst human beings.

We are surrounded by countless geometric structures and the element air as well is composed of them. So it means that when we breathe, we constantly allow nature to connect us with all the pure and healing shapes. We are breathing shapes through air. This continuous reminder of our relationship with the Universe is the key for the meditation through these sacred geometric shapes, keeping our vibrating energy in the same frequency of the Universe to find our inner peace.

4) How did the idea of creating stainless steel sculptures come about?

In 1996 my father, a metallurgic engineer who was implanting new Japanese technology of stainless steel in Brazil, sent me to Japan to learn the secrets of manufacturing process of sculptures and artifacts in stainless steel with two of the best stainless sculptors in Japan, Master Nagayama from Art Factory Scape in Chiba and Master Maruyama from Maruya Kogyo in Sapporo.

Back in Brazil, I worked in partnership with numerous designers and renowned architects always giving technical solutions and support for their projects, and I started to develop my own pieces as well.

In the year 2000, I built my first sculpture requested by a client who gave me a single piece of round pipe. I created a piece called “Amazônia”. We were living in the turn of the Millennium, and the only thing that was in my mind was the devastation of the Amazon Forest. So I did this sculpture in protest against man’s destruction. Using different techniques of polishing, the mirror surface of the rings below symbolises the beauty of the tree and the tree trunk is cut, burnt and shattered.

During this time, I studied mechanical engineering for two years and industrial design for one year and a half in the Mackenzie University, São Paulo- Brazil. There I could get deeply into techniques of perspectives and technical drawings. Parallel to my work, in 2002 during many psychedelic experiences, I discovered the beautiful connection between man, nature, spiritual world and the Universe.

I was creating geometric Fire Mandalas for the biggest Fire performance group in Brazil for almost 10 years, and this was also a way to feel the strong connection with my inner soul and cosmos. My urge to spread this beautiful energy became stronger. The path of my life was traced.

5) How has teaching sacred geometry helped you on your path?

Through my art I try to bring to our modern world the knowledge of the ancients. They knew about everything and somehow we have lost our real connection with ancient knowledge. It is also a way to share the most beautiful experiences I ever had in my life. These built sacred shapes are part of my meditation which acts a healing process for my inner soul. Being a Sacred Geometer is a gift. I feel honored to spread this science every time I share my knowledge.

It’s Time For a New Paradigm of Scientific Thought

Issues

Jeremy MacDonald

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December 19, 2014

11

It’s Time For a New Paradigm of Scientific Thought

Science cannot evolve without change, and there is a dire need for change in its fundamental philosophy. The Oxford Dictionary defines materialism as “the doctrine that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications”.

Materialism is the paradigm of scientific philosophy under which the vast majority of contemporary scientists operate. It is essentially the belief that everything can be explained in physical terms, and that there is no need to explore anything further.

Why are most scientists operating within this doctrine when science has already demonstrated many examples of non-physical phenomena?

Well, our mainstream science culture certainly tends to reflect materialist values in media such as internet articles and websites, television shows and news, and especially the science curriculum in educational institutions. Since we are all, to a degree, products of our society, it stands to reason that many scientists would hold true to materialism.

However, there are many examples of science going beyond the realm of physical reality.

Let’s start with the magnetic force. It cannot be denied that the magnetic force has physical applications and implications, but there is nothing physical about the actual force itself. You can see a magnet, or a magnetically charged metal, but you cannot see what charges it. We can see that a compass points in the north direction.

But if the magnetic force itself appeared to us physically in its natural state, does it not stand to reason that the human race would never have had a use for a compass? It is an invisible and non-physical force which affects the physical world.

Light is another example. The light in which we are capable of seeing is just a very small portion of “the electromagnetic spectrum”, which is represented below. The area which is outlined in blue gives a representation of how small that portion is. Radio waves, microwaves, X-rays, UV rays, and gamma rays are all elements of this spectrum as well. Like light waves, we can only see their physical effects, not the radiation itself.

For example, you cannot see the UV rays which give you a suntan, you can only see the tan itself. All that we can perceive from the visible light spectrum is the wavelength that it takes when it bounces off physical objects, and we experience this wavelength as a color. Therefore, there is nothing physical about light itself, it simply interacts with physical objects.

The force of gravity is another glaring example. We can see and feel how gravity affects us through its effect on physical objects, but we cannot actually see the force of gravity itself. If we could “see gravity”, then surely someone would have been credited with discovering gravity before Sir Isaac Newton in the 1600’s. A

gain, a force which in itself is not visible or physical, but has profound effects on the physical world surrounding us. When you hear modern alternative philosophers use the term “energy” or assert that “everything is energy”, these are some of the types of energies that they are referring to.

This theme of non-physical energy only being experienced through their ramifications on physical entities seems to be evident throughout science, yet the idea has little credibility in the scientific community.

The current paradigm of materialism tends to put the physical explanations first, while ignoring the super-physical. This is limiting our range of scientific inquiry. It limits us to only giving scientific due to physical effects, thereby potentially ignoring the cause or origin of a force or entity completely.

For example, we do not know if the cause of magnetism, is physical or non-physical, but our current paradigm is only allowing us to explore one option with credibility. We need to open our minds and look at the potential of a non-materialist explanation of such forces.

One thing that bothers modern scientists, is that we have really vague explanations regarding the origins of gravity, magnetism, and light. The best explanation to date regarding the cause of the magnetic force and the photon is that these entities appeared shortly after the “Big Bang”, with all other matter.

This is basically like saying, we know they exist, but we do not know why. And since gravity seems to be caused by a moving physical body, gravity would have had to appear when the first physical matter was set in motion in our universe, which is again close to the alleged “Big Bang”.

Materialist scientists, answer me this: How are we supposed to discover the cause or origin of a non-physical entity, like gravity and magnetism, when your fundamental philosophy does not permit you to believe that studying non-physical entities is worthwhile? How do we expect ourselves to advance science to the next paradigm without embracing the idea that more exists than our physical realm?

As mentioned, we have not been able to fully explain the effects of gravity, magnetism, and the photon under our current paradigm of thought.

It is most certainly time for a new generation of forward-thinking scientists to take a less materialistic approach to explaining these entities instead of taking pages from the old playbook, which has not gotten us far since the time of Einstein.

Could this rationale also be why we have been so unsuccessful at explaining the existence and implications of black holes, as well as the entity that is consciousness?

What amazes me even further, is that materialist scientists, like the rest of us, use technologies which are operational because of these non-physical entities. Basically every one of us have all listened to a radio, had an x-ray done, operated some form of remote control, and used a cell phone or wireless internet.

We need such non-physical entities in order to function in today’s society. When is the philosophy upon which our science is based going to catch up to this reality?

So if we change our mindsets and start to take non-physical entities seriously, as a scientific community, this will certainly allow for further exploration of the cause and implications of thoughts, consciousness, and what happens to us after we die. We must shed this outdated notion of materialism in order to maximize our potential in studying these areas of interest.

If you wish to explore the idea of why it is necessary to move past the scientific paradigm of materialism, let Dr. Rupert Sheldrake enlighten you with some theories regarding materialist science in the video below. The fact that his TED talk was not deemed to be “scientific’ enough for the TED indicates that there is a bias towards this methodology of thinking in the scientific world.

Rupert Sheldrake - The Science Delusion BANNED TED TALK

And a final thought for those of you who are still sticking to your materialist ideals: just because we cannot perceive something, does not mean that it cannot exist.

Sources:
Where Did The Universe’s Magnetism Come From?
General Physics: Gravity
Gravity

Image Sources:
GPB Circling Earth
EMSpec
Future Science

Jester Guru Chronicles, Part 3: Breaking the Law

Issues

Gary Z McGee

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December 18, 2014

2

Jester Guru Chronicles, Part 3: Breaking the Law

“If you knew Time as well as I do … you wouldn’t talk about wasting it.” ~ Mad Hatter

One night a few years back I dreamt that God and Satan were playing tennis, and no matter how much they played the score was always love-love. Upon awakening my heart became a little red trickster-god thumping its trickster melody in my chest.

Each thrum was a question that placed the state of the world on “the stand” in an epic cross-examination. Since then it has demanded of me a sweet rebellion, a gentle insurgence, a temperate upheaval.

How could I not listen? How could I not honor it? Especially in a world where freedom is systematically becoming outlawed and unhealthy laws are destroying healthy environments.

Like Clive Hamilton said, “When just laws are used to uphold unjust behavior, our obligation to uphold the laws is diminished.”

As it stands, in the wake of so much police injustice in a world becoming more and more of a police state, my obligation to uphold the law is practically non-existent.

So with the authority vested in me by the voices in my head, I give you all permission to create twists and turns within all narratives designed to be straight lines. To the conditioned masses and the herd of well-meaning idiots who believe that written law and authority needs to be followed at all costs, even at the expense of self-evident morality: recondition yourself and amorally rebel.

To all you inert bench sitters and armchair quarterbacks: stop waiting for a revolution and be the revolution. There is no time to vacillate. Time is running out. To all you dynamic paradigm shifters and free law breakers: keep up the good fight and keep disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed.

Like H.L. Mencken ingeniously surmised, “The fact is that the average man’s love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth. He is not actually happy when free; he is uncomfortable, a bit alarmed, and intolerably lonely. Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty — and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.”

Indeed, seek liberty anyway. In order to really make a difference in this world we must be able to shatter mental paradigms to the point of going a little crazy, and we must be able to stretch comfort zones to the point of snapping. Breaking the law, especially bad laws, is an essential aspect of this process.

If we can do this intelligently and strategically, leading by example, then we can become the walking personification of a Game Changer. We give others the courage to directly catalyze the system, and with enough people involved we can really begin to make a difference.

Like the Director of The Imaginary Foundation said, “We may be stumbling, fumbling, flawed primates, but when we work together, we are primates that can fly.”

So let’s fly. Let’s leave the unsustainable laws made by unhealthy men behind. Let’s embrace a future where we are healthy, sustainable and free. Hope isn’t enough, we need proactive inventiveness. We need counterculture productivity. We need amoral agents who can trick the immoral world back into a moral one.

We need people who have the courage to embrace despair and the capacity to transform it into joy, in spite of joyless laws designed to keep us contained.

Like Peter Kropotkin said, “It is not hope, but despair, which makes successful revolutions.”

So instead of suppression, let’s penetrate deception, turn over rocks, awaken people to concealed truths, and create a deeper awareness about our own despair.

“When people are in despair,” writes Black Elk, “maybe the laughing face is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better for them. And so I think that is what the heyoka is for.”

Indeed, this is why my “laughing face” is full-frontal. This is why I mock the powers that be and their petty laws that are only in place to keep them in power and the powerless out of power.

This is why I am a Castaneda Coyote with Don Juan eyes. I am Kung Fu Trickster. I am Freebird Feminist. I have transformed my despair into authentic audacity and lavish insouciance. I have the audacity to inflict anarchy onto plutocracy.

I am insouciant enough not to give two blue shits about makeshift laws designed by unsustainable men. Like Plato said, “For a state in which the law is respected, democracy is the worst form of government, but if the law is not respected, it is the best.” So it is I have no respect for the laws of men. The laws of nature, however, I have nothing but respect for.

So where do we go from here? How do we move forward in a system that is designed to keep us stuck? “We are all looking around as a global society,” writes Alice Santoro, “all coming to the realization that we’ve been duped.

Collectively, we know we must stop going down this road…but how, when we’ve come to rely so heavily on the system that the über opportunists have created? How, when an entire culture is structured around consumption, inefficiency, and waste – and when so many of us rely on the flawed system for our livelihoods – can we suddenly change course?”

One answer is through Art: rebellious art; art that shatters molds; art that leaves all other art behind in a cloud of progressive dust; art that seeks a mercurial space between and beyond irony and sincerity, doctrine and truth, optimism and pessimism, in search of unknown horizons; art that oscillates at a higher frequency and verges on spiritual rebellion.

We are aesthetic creatures living in an anesthetic society. “Aesthetic” is a Greek word meaning “the perception of the senses.” The opposite is “anesthetic” which is a numbing of the senses.

As it stands, we live in a hyperreal anesthetized world. As long as the majority of us are walking around with dulled senses it will continue to be easy for the powers-that-be to pass bad laws and get away with enforcing them.

But if we have the audacity to renew our aesthetics then we become a people with the capacity to perceive reality as it is, beyond the hyperreal, and we are suddenly awake and able to question authority, including the unjust laws that authority enforces.

Like Thomas Jefferson said, “If a law is unjust, a man is not only correct to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”

As such, we are correct to disobey most of the laws designed by the current dominator system. And so with the authority vested in me by the voices in my head, I give you all permission to add another mask to your arsenal of masks: Sweet Lawbreaker.

Image source:

No birds sign
No humans sign
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