Attempted Jailbreak at the Kitten Hatchery

The kittens are the offspring of a feral mother. I befriended her and won her confidence after her previous period of gestation resulted in the death of all her kittens. She is no more than two years old herself.

I need to find homes for the little ones but I couldn't let them die on the porch so they're inside now.

Vision Quest

While working on the theme of Vision Quest I found a remarkable Youtube program "Words of the Prophets"  The website is devoted to exploring the themes of native spirituality.  If you're interested in such things you'll find this a rewarding channel to subscribe to. There are a rich variety of topics and speakers from different spiritual traditions.

The purpose of spiritual knowledge is to give the individual insight into the nature of his or her experience of being alive. Life itself is a vision quest.

I appreciate the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Krishna, the Upanishads and others. I'm convinced the purpose of life is to wake up, or as Jesus said, come to yourself. 

At some point being alive will lead to the conclusion that the meaning of life is to grow old get sick and die while having as much fun as can be had before the end.  I suspect this is a common way of approaching the experience of life. This point of view leads inexorably to a harmful state of mind.

Religions which require the worshipper to 'believe' specific doctrines are harmful.  Once a person 'believes' something in this way he can not learn anymore. He or she must turn their brain off and repeat "I believe."  Not until he stretches the boundaries of that belief system can he see outside the walls of doctrine that enclose him. As soon as he does this he is called a heretic.  This has been known to lead to some terribly bad behavior by the 'true believers'. This behavior of course discredits any claim to virtue these religions have made about themselves.




Religion stands between God and man, keeping man from asking questions by giving him pat answers he is supposed to file away and use for help in time of spiritual crisis. In this way religion keeps the 'believer' in the dark.

Spiritual knowledge is different from belief systems. From truth comes knowledge.  Knowledge results when 'truth' is understood.  Simply assenting to a doctrinal belief is not able to impart knowledge.  Truth is an intellectual quality which becomes invigorating when a consciousness grasps its meaning and is born again.  Simply agreeing to the correctness of specific doctrines is not able to impart spiritual awakening or transform the mind in a helpful way.

When we are awake we 'know' who we are and what the actual nature of our being entails. Providing that knowledge which reveals our relationship with the source of being is the purpose of spiritual teaching.  If your teacher comes bringing a book of rules flee for your life.

What I have found interesting is some insight into a phenomenon referred to as the 'kingdom of God' which is the spiritual teaching Jesus brought to the world which he said would transform human consciousness and impart eternal being to the one in possession of that knowledge.

If a religious tradition is more about changing your behavior, doing the right thing and avoiding the wrong thing it will not transform the mind. It will transform your behavior and very likely make you feel self righteous and superior for all your good behavior and right beliefs. You will, however, be spiritually dead while being totally religious.

If a person wants to wake up he will find knowledge that wakes him up. That is just the way it works. If we seek we  find, if we knock the door will be opened. The universe is a friendly place at its core.  The sublime hidden in the vestures of religion reveals God is love.  But religion has a way hiding or corrupting that understanding.

Spirituality has appeal for many who look at the state of the world and recognize society operates on entirely different principles. Society as well as religion discriminates and builds partitions based on its laws. Religion is societies God and as it turns out society is the kingdom of the Beast spoken of in the mystical work of John.  In contrast spiritual teaching draws people together in love. 









                                                a Clear Running Water state of mind

Sunflowers

Sunflowers










Sunflowers have inspired many.

I planted them with the hope of gathering the stalks and bundling them together to leave for the birds this winter.

 

A Clear Running Water state of mind



Getting It On With the Fire People ( a video)

Enjoy, have some fun, and forget you're slaves on a big plantation.

Jim asks:  "What are you gonna do about it?"

The rebel spirit always raises its head when the status quo gives it the occasion to do so.

Perhaps we should just sail away and start over.

Building An Image To The Beast ( a video)

The Beast spoken of in the Book of Revelation
 is the antithesis of God.  The Beast is distinct from the
Creator and has sought to take his place.

To do this he took the world as it had been made
and turned it into what you see today. He accomplished this by deceit.

Society is the way it is because it loves its way of life more than it loves the Creator.  This is revealed in the following words from the 11th chapter of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ by John.

The Beast is the Spirit of this age.  The degree to which it is evil you can decipher in the news.  Have your mind renewed and escape.

Revelation 11    (click)

King James Version (KJV)

11 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

² But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
³ And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
⁴ These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
⁵ And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
⁶ These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
⁷ And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
⁸ And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
⁹ And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
¹⁰ And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
¹¹ And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
¹² And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
¹³ And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
¹⁴ The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
¹⁵ And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
¹⁶ And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
¹⁷ Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
¹⁸ And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
¹⁹ And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

                                                                          (C) 2013


                                                    a Clear Running Water state of mind

Ode to Carbon: a dirge for the human family

One of the reasons for making wise choices with regard how we conduct ourselves while being human on the planet is that we can seriously screw things up if we decide to do things one way instead of another. The economic and political struggle ongoing at present involving the extraction and use of carbon based energy is an example of the decision makers dilemma.

The situation facing the human family is dire on many fronts. Now it appears as if the decision makers have hooked their wagon to the carbon star and are pulling the rest of the planet along with them to the conclusion of their activities.

A lot of us appreciate clean drinking water as well as fresh air.

There are some whose activities indicate it is not a top priority. You know who they are and they do not need to be named.



The phenomenon of the human race doing to it's own living environment the things it has done has a spiritual explanation as well as a political and economic explanation. Human history can be understood in a spiritual context resulting from mankind's specific choices. Truly we reap what we sow, and just as truly we try to deny any consequences exist.


My understanding for the reason the leaders of society have chosen to relate to the living environment in the way they have is inherently spiritual in nature. I reason like this. The Creator / creature relationship has experienced a separation. One of my favorite stories from the bible is just such a tale.

Jesus told a story about a family, including a man living on his property with two sons and his hired hands. Perhaps the man is a widower because no wife is mentioned. I think a better explanation for the absence of a wife is that the story is about mankind and God.



In the story the younger of the two sons asks his father to give him his share of the inheritance now instead of having to wait for him to die. The father agrees. The son takes his newly found wealth and quickly spends it ending up in the proverbial gutter.

I see in this outcome a representation of the fall of man. There is a key in Jesus' words about how to understand this story. "And when he came to himself..."

When he came to himself he remembered his fathers house and he returned.

The human race can do that too. That is the theme of the last book of the New Testament. 

^"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

The plagues spoken of are all ecologically relevant. They involve geological, and astronomical repercussions ranging from earthquakes, to starvation, to war, epidemic, and economic totalitarianism.  Sound familiar?  Thinking spiritually it is  reasonable to conclude that if mankind will not turn back to honor his source of being that creation itself will breakdown. This is what the book of Revelation indicates, and Paul, the apostle affirms.




It up to you whether or not you want to return to your father's house. You can.

a Clear Running Water state of mind

I AM UR2

I AM UR2





I began to play with a new video editing program and this was the result.

Quest for the Kingdom

Below, in the video, is a collection of some artwork by myself along with an original soundtrack composed and performed by Bill Canino.

In the video I pursue the question about the source of being and the meaning of being.

How is it we got here? And why? What possible purpose can being here have if we do to ourselves what we as a human race have done to ourselves? Looking at the world we humans have created from our value systems leads me to think our value systems are bankrupt and corrupt. At the hyperlink is another video on the topic.

Is it possible 'being' is it's own purpose? I don't know. The one thing we know for sure is that 'here we are' headed to the grave and it appears to not be an easy trip. We have taxes to pay before we get there. That means we have to work to pay for the damned mess we refer to as civilization.

I refer to the Christ event foretold in the messianic prophecies of the Hebrew faith. It is interesting to realize that the appearance of the messiah is in direct relationship to the misery level of the world. Rachel was weeping for her children because they had been killed. (bible metaphor). In the context of human need a spiritual hope arose in the hearts of those oppressed with the weight of existence. The impulse of the source of being responded by producing a demonstration of how to live and to understand being and existence. We generally know this as Jesus of Nazareth. He taught the gospel of the kingdom which is the remedy for what ails the human race.

The gospel of the Kingdom reveals something about you and who you are. You can begin to think about what being a child of God in this world means by clicking (here) It is a little story Jesus told. The teaching in this story contains the reason the church people had him snuffed. Apart from that the story reveals something about what it means to be a human. The Legend of The Grand Inquisitor from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky is an example of what happened to Christ. I urge you to read it.

I find Christ significant mainly because I find very little worthwhile being produced by the movers and shapers of present society. Christ, as messiah, has introduced the human mind to the age to come. He left tantalizing riddles he called parables behind to get us thinking about it. Figuring out what it means seems important.

Leaving Babylon for the Endless Sabbath

I worked on this video for several days and I do not see anything I would change that I could change. 

I've been considering the theme of the book of Revelation. That theme is the revelation of the meaning of Christ for human consciousness.

 

Many people are talking about the book of Revelation but the only thing it seems they want to look at is world events.  While it is true the book talks about what is to come, it does so in the greater context of what Christ himself means.

 

Anyone can see what's going on around them and react appropriately without being told how bad it is going to get. These are scary times we live in.  Current events are unsettling and uncertain except for the certainty it will get worse and that it may never get better.

 

Such an approach is inadequate to explain the message in the book of Revelation which is a revelation of Jesus the Christ, not end time events.  You will find people willing to talk all day about end time events and if you listen you will not know Christ any better as a result. 

 

By doing this they obscure and misdirect your attention from Christ. They function as wolves in sheeps clothing when they obscure Christ and present the kingdom of this world for you to gaze on in wonder. Remember, the Prince of this World did that to Jesus. I don't think this is always done intentionally and is probably the result of thinking and reasoning in a doctrinal format rather than in terms of Christ himself who is the embodiment of wisdom and knowledge.  Focusing on Christ is never harmful.

 

End time events have their own explanation. The message in the book of Revelation is the revelation of the meaning of Christ himself in the cosmic setting this truth inhabits. It is the knowledge of Christ which will keep the heart steady and faith strong.

 

It is this approach I find meaningful.  It seems to me the other approach is based on a 'this age' point of view. In the knowledge of Christ is found the age to come. That's hopeful.  In world events disconnected from the knowledge of Christ there is despair.

 

However the Revelation of Christ is not of this age. It transcends this age. It has nothing in common at all with this age. It is this age and this ages value system which is Babylon the great Whore who convinced mankind to exchange the living God for a handful of capital.

 

 

 

This report from "The Real News" speaks to this issue.
What will happen when money no longer fixes things?


















Fleeing Babylon for the Endless Sabbath

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  Hebrews 4.

Having fallen from the center of existence and creating the grand mess of human history all seems lost.  However the meaning of existence can be recovered in the story of the Incarnation of Jesus the Christ which is traditionally called 'the Gospel of the Kingdom'.

 

a Clear Running Water state of mind

"Coordinates": Poster Art From Another Dimension

Coordinates



An intricate, active and brilliantly colored poster. I began with light samples
The image on the right is a "light sample" I made this by using a slow shutter speed while photographing lights outside at night.  By deliberately moving the camera,  a wide variety of designs of light can be made.  I find that a lot of interesting effects appear from simple doodling and often will expand into something like the poster which resulted from my efforts.

The design evolved as I worked on it.
As the form and concept developed I added different shapes and used different effects. I added 4 of my "Fire People" characters to populate the scene.

The idea inspiring the design is in the title "Coordinates".

Coordinates are the intersection of consciousness and data.

This poster will attract a lot of attention and comments on a wall near you.

Enjoy.

Coordinates by Hermenutic

Browse more Fantasy Posters at Zazzle

 

 

Coordinates   a video with the rest of the images and light samples.

Kali Yuga Blues & Incantation: a couple of videos

I made a couple pieces, here they are. I like to doodle. Sometimes it opens doorways in perception.


Enjoy.

Kali Yuga Blues and Incantation










To make these pictures I use a camera and a computer, paint.net software and my own peculiar quirkiness. It is important to use as many rights as possible as often as possible. Rights are like muscles, if you don't use them there's not much use having them.







There may be more rights you have that you have not discovered yet. Watch out someone doesn't make them illegal when you're not looking.

Vertigo: video and poetry

I began with black and white triangles and added a background. After working on the outlines of the triangles and changing their shape.

The result produces the sensation of a leaf slipping back and forth on air currents on it's way to the ground from the branch. Below is a poem I wrote a while ago.  There have been many changes to it and this form has changed from the time I put it on the paper here. The artwork I made a couple days ago.  The music in the video is by Bill Canino.

September Incident

The locust drops its leaves
one by one.

Simply crafted yellow air foils,
wafting,
   skipping,
       sliding,
         tumbling
in the slight,
   changing currents
     of air,
fall to the ground.


8/09/05 © David H. Roche

Yin 'N' Yang poster art and video

This poster began simply with the use of multiple layers of black and white triangles to which I added the effects of the various tools. The background is a spiral sunburst design which I use from time to time. This doodle made out of the time available when nothing else needed to be done turned out pretty good. I began with the idea that opposites are necessary in order for anyone to be aware of something else's existence. Opposites or some kind of differentiation must exist for anyone to recognize something else exists. Black and while, light and darkness and Yin and Yang are examples of the power of opposites. So out of nothing I made this poster and it will look good on a wall near you.

Clicking on the image will take you to Zazzle.com where it may be purchased.

Yin 'N' Yang by Hermenutic
Find other Yin and yang Posters at zazzle.com

Below is a video I made of the doodles with some added music. Enjoy.




a Clear Running Water state of mind

Evening and Morning: The Age of Man

I thought this came out pretty good. It describes the effect of choices beginning from the non existence preceding beginning to the end and catastrophe of existence itself.

I listened to a good portion of the book of Luke today. The story of Jesus tempted by the devil with all the things valued by society including the deceit of wealth, prestige, and power is also told of Buddha. Both encountered that temptation and made the same decision regarding it. It is significant to me that these two men living 500 years apart in drastically different cultures could identify the same problems and produce systems of information designed to solve the problems.

The present state of affairs is not worth getting upset over because it is an illusion created by the bad dream of 'our way of life' we've all been captivated by. Jesus maintained this perspective to the point of declaring those who disagreed with him to be fools. He didn't mince his words. Fools, in Jesus' way of thinking, are those who look to the systems and values of this age to sustain them and give them security. Fools would be horribly disappointed, Jesus declared. Americans at the present are an example of that.

The present world is in the possession of men possessed by madness whose methods of governing are deceit, power and evil. Jesus said this would happen and that only knowing why this world / age is indeed an illusion was the only means of escaping.

Jesus produced a body of information known as the 'Kingdom of God', or the 'Gospel of the Kingdom' which provides the intellectual / spiritual ammo to survive the illusion of the age.

The Buddhist Dharma also provides escape instructions to those not interested in Christianity. Both provide a way to escape the suffering associated with taking life too seriously.

Invoke the Spirit.

My art is available for purchase online at my store Art From Another Dimension.  Clicking will take you to Zazzle.com where you can look around.

 

a Clear Running Water state of mind

 

 

(C) 2013

The Sidewalks of Babylon

Babylon is the symbol of the religious spirit of the Anti-Christ. It's headquarters is the human mind.

The human mind is the bottomless pit from which good and evil arise.

Without God, it is like a once thriving city laid to waste. Now it is home only to vultures and jackals.

Conceiving himself  'being' without a soul, man becomes a mere shadow.

Below is a video I made. On some level it's about the quality of life in Babylon and the end of the age.

                                                                       



The only viable option for mankind in this predicament is if it changes its mind.



















This can be done but it requires leaving the whore on the corner and coming home to God.


"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."  Revelation 18 KJV,


It requires willful ignorance to be uninformed and uninvolved with regard to the topic of maintaining the viability of the earth..

The reason the earth is important spiritually is because it exists as a testimony of the mystery of our existence and being. That which is responsible for our existence is also responsible for the existence of this now terribly polluted puddle in which we live. The way we humans treat the earth is a direct reflection of how we regard the source of our being.  The two, our thoughts of God and his creation, are inseparable except by those well versed in the practice of psychopathic behavior.

The earth is, as this metaphor goes, the work of Gods hands. The sin of the religion of the Anti-Christ is that it leads mankind to worship the works of its own hands. It is the goal of the Anti-Christ to make you forget where your being came from.  It is the purpose of Christ to remind you.

The Beginning of Form

The Beginning of Form 

I began with two samples of light I had collected with a long exposure in dim light and the deliberate movement of the camera.  To the shapes collected from that I added a series of triangles and circular shapes. Triangles seem to have a role to play in sacred geometry and they fit together well visually.

Sometimes shapes speak.

News From The Future: Fire at Pistol Whip Fresh Air Works

 

Dateline: sometime in the future

Some workers returned to work today stepping carefully through puddles of flame that sputtered like butane torches along the main driveway leading to Pistol Whip Fresh Air Works.

 

 

The factory produces fresh air for markets in major west coast high population centers.  Shortly after 3:30 in the afternoon as a shift change was in progress the facility was engulfed in flames.

The fiery eruptions in front of the factory are reminiscent of an apocalyptic movie scene. 

 

 

First reports are that 4000 pounds of highly flammable liquid oxygen have escaped and migrated into Lake Pistol Whip freezing it solid. Some I have spoken with suggest the amount of oxygen may be three times that much.

 

Wikipedia reveals this about the properties of liquid oxygen.  “Because of its cryogenic nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidizing agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further, if soaked in liquid oxygen, some materials such as coal briquettes, carbon black, etc., can detonate unpredictably from sources of ignition such as flames, sparks or impact from light blows. Petrochemicals, including asphalt, often exhibit this behavior.”

Jim Dumshitz plant manager explained to Pie in the Face News that the accident occurred when one employee left an oxygen transfer tank unattended and punched out when his shift was up. 

"It would have been okay," Dumshitz explained," if the second shift personnel had not been late for work. It's just one of those things, but it sure causes a lot of problems.  We have strict accounting guidelines on punching out more than 3 minutes late. He could have been disciplined if he had stayed longer.  He did everything by the book."

April Waters from the department of lakes and natural resources was on the scene surveying the catastrophe.  Pie in the Face News asked her concerns.  "Well it is a lot of oxygen.  So we have to deal with that.  We're still trying to determine how it ended up in the lake. We think some underground pipes burst.  Most likely it was caused by ground movement. There's a lot of seismic activity in this area but no one wanted to hear it when they were planning.

"We're certain the fish have died.  They were flash frozen.  Best estimates are that the lake will remain frozen solid for at least a week as it evaporates before leaving a big puddle of mud and rotting fish.  I don't want to alarm you, but there is a very real chance it can all go boom.

“Right now the entire lake is approximately -250 degrees (F).   We urge people not to skate on the ice with steel blades and especially not to smoke nearby until the lake is fully melted.  Here we are in the middle of a July heat wave and those rotting fish are going to be a serious public health problem.  The village can’t afford the overtime to deal with it.  It’s a mess anyway you look at it."

Pie in the Face News spoke with two of the arriving employees, Robin Fish and Harry Bush. I asked if they had concerns about returning to work.

Bush spoke first.  "No more than usual, not after Jim called, he’s there now.  This was bound to happen anyhow.  I'm really surprised it took so long.  Jim said everything was under control now."

Fish interrupted adding.  "That's an understatement.  I've been expecting it any day.  I can point out 5 safety problems which would get us shut down if somebody reported them."

“Besides that,” Bush added, “ we make an essential product and those that need fresh air just can’t wait because of an accident.”

I asked Bush a follow-up question:  "You said Jim called, did you mean the plant manager, Jim Dumshitz?

"Yeah, he said he really needed to get the line running and he'd appreciate it if we came in.  We need the work anyhow. I was glad to go.  It’s rough, man."

“We couldn’t afford to miss any time.” Fish gulped as she looked toward the factory.  I’m just glad it happened at the end of the shift.”

 

 

The pair turned and trudged toward the factory through puddles of flame that lapped around them.  The sight of them disappearing behind the factory doors left me thinking what a pair of fools they are.   It brought to mind an old Jim Morrison rap.

 

 

 

 

This has been a NEWS FROM THE FUTURE feature with Pie in the Face News reporting on the scene of this completely fictional event.

 

I have produced environmentally conscious art which you see here in my blog, and if you would like to see some with the possibility of purchasing it you can do so by visiting Art From Another Dimension at Zazzle.com

I hope the story made you laugh and think.

 

a Clear Running Water state of mind

© 2013 David H. Roche

Some Thoughts On What It Means to Be Human In The Context of the NSA Scandal

 

 

Jimmy Carter has publically spoken out on the topic of NSA spying on American citizens.  “Former US President Jimmy Carter lambasted US intelligence methods as undemocratic and described Edward Snowden’s NSA leak as “beneficial” for the country.”  According to a report on the website deathandtaxes

 

 

“Carter lashed out at the U.S. political system when the issue of the previously top-secret NSA surveillance program was touched upon at the Atlantic Bridge meeting on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia.”   According to RT QESTION MORE.

"America has no functioning democracy at this moment," Carter said, according to Der Spiegel.

He is the most prestigious of only a few high profile people in public life who have been heard to raise their voice in criticism of revelations of government spying.  Jimmy Carter is rightly characterized as an honorable man.

Criticism must speak clearly.  Cenk Uygur in this segment of The Young Turks is an example of speaking clearly.  Which media are acting the part of a journalist in the traditional sense with regard to this issue? Which are mumbling? 

 

Who believes the news anymore?

Mainstream media’s level of reticence in reporting is in itself a report.  Receiving it prevents, or limits curiosity, participation and discussion. It’s better not to forget. Hearing briefly about something and in a few weeks not hearing anything more leads the consumer of commercially prepared news to think that the problem no longer exists. Or possibly worse.  It may combine with the continuing rising of trouble everywhere and result in despair as the zeitgeist that informs the public mind. This practice circumvents the normal God given and democratic right to participate in the flow of ideas necessary for the nurture of the body of the nation.

Is the silence of the mainstream media over this an evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy against democracy …?

Could it be?  Does that make sense?

 

 

 

 

 

Do you feel you exist for a greater purpose than being the most essential requirement for higher consumer profit reports? What does being a citizen in such a society mean?  Humans are spiritual, not economic creatures, but somehow we have become convinced that is not true and have created society to prove it is not true. The concepts of ‘Being’, ‘God’ and ‘existence’ as I am using them are explained if you click on the large gold letters at the top of the paragraph.

 

The healthcare industry in societies with ‘for profit’ healthcare can be regarded as a metaphor of the values of a society defined by economic principles.  Its presence explains that what it means to be ‘mankind’ has been redefined.  By redefining ‘mankind’ it eclipses, or changes in ‘mankind’ the sense of themselves as spiritual beings. 

It does so in the most basic human terms adults can understand. When mankind does not understand himself by his relationship to God he must define himself in relationship to something. When man agrees to that relationship he belongs to it; at that point it becomes a ‘God’. The prevailing attitude regarding ‘mankind’ by society is to relate to ‘mankind’ on the basis of defining mankind as homo economicus. 

Homo economicus is an economic definition of the human being.  Human beings then, are encouraged to regard their worth as value expressed in dollars, or some other currency.  Insurance companies do it on a day to day basis. In a for profit healthcare setting the industry will try and save your life if you have the means to pay. Those are the rules. The conclusion of this is that the value symbolically attached to currency is that value by which all else, including human life is judged in this type of society. In a very important psychological sense, money takes the place in the mind which was originally intended to be possessed by God.

Symbols are not ‘mere’ symbols.  Symbols have the power to possess consciousness and make people act. The flag and apple pie are examples. How many are moved by those symbols?  Society operates on principles which regard mankind as essentially an economic creature.  The ethics of a society derived from the value of the dollar will of necessity conform to the standards of value related to the dollar.   By changing how we regard our fundamental status as human beings we must change our conception of what it means to be human.  As a result new laws and ethics will appear in order to conform to the new symbols defining man.

Prior to being designated homo economicus, members of the human race were referred to as homo sapiens.  Conceptually these are two different critters altogether although similar in physical appearance. The difference is spiritual, therefore it is fundamentally real. Society is designed so this spiritual reality is able to be easily dismissed. In the healthcare industry; flesh, blood and spirit meet the almighty dollar revealing a relationship defining how we, as citizens of society, understand ourselves.

 

In the context of healthcare what is evident first is the personal nature of the services rendered to an individual in exchange for payment to this industry. In such a society the public health and wellbeing of the populace is overseen. The cost is managed to insure the industry is successful. In this equation the human being is a means to the industry’s goal of being profitable.  At the highest levels all decisions in such a society are fine tuned to see that goal is met.

Does this assessment of yourself make you feel more or less the way you imagine you are deep in your innermost being? Are you more than a consumer that will need to be fixed someday? Are you more than an individual with a name, a job and a family?

Society’s desperate need for consumers is underscored in the relationships inherent in a ‘for profit’ healthcare environment.   In the preceding link the question is asked and answered as to why U.S. healthcare is expensive.  It turns out to be quite a bit more expensive than the so called Socialist approach to providing healthcare for a society. To top it off being expensive does not make it the most effective healthcare provider.  U.S. healthcare does not rank in the top 15 healthcare providing societies worldwide. Why is that?

Something’s going on.  It’s like everything is still the same, but yet just a little different than you remember it. American life has changed from scenes like this …Have you noticed?  To this. Have you felt the change?

What is it?  

There’s been an undercurrent of tension in the level and context of mainstream media provided information for a decade or more.  Now there’s something serious to talk about.

So why is the President spending his time talking about a street crime at the time of a constitutional crisis?  As bad as that event was, the revelations of the devalued status of the constitution are of far greater consequence to the people in a democratic society than the outcome of this act.

There are a fair number of gun related deaths in the United States on a daily basis. Emphasizing this one outrageous act eclipses the much more important discussion of the subversion of the will of the people in the democratic process.  It does this by taking the attention away from crimes against ALL the people. President Obama gives every indication of being in favor of the spying and that he is not going to change his mind at this point. He changed his mind on torture that’s for sure. Maybe the change he meant was the expansion of the previous administrations ambitions.

Do you agree with former President Carter’s assessment of the status of democracy in the U.S?  If he is right, it is a serious situation! I’ve never doubted Carter’s honesty or integrity.  I’ve not had any reason to feel that way about other presidents. 

While looking for info I found an article on the topic of freedom. You can read it at the link following this sentence.  Is America A Free Country?  Click to read an essay addressing that question at antiwar.com.  It’s worth a read. 

The need many feel to preserve the integrity of the constitution lends to this moment in American history the characteristics of a watershed event.  So why does the President talk to us about street crime at a time of monumental constitutional crisis?   

Is Nero fiddling again?

The outrage generated  as a result of the U.S. invading the privacy of daily lives is affecting not only the world’s mightiest nation, but every nation of the world.  However the muffled response of the mainstream media in the U.S and its elected officials is drowning this news out. If your elected representative has not spoken out in defense of the constitution at this juncture in history in a meaningful way; he or she has spoken out eloquently against it. 

Jimmy Carter was a sincere, well qualified man with deep experience. His squeaky clean persona was used to cover up the stain of the Nixon and Ford Administrations which left the U.S. looking like a respected banker who has been pushed out of a cab stark naked in the middle of Manhattan accused of attempted rape by the driver. These revelations in the news are far more serious because it places the status of democracy and the meaning of privacy in the U.S in peril. 

This is about as ‘American’ as any topic gets.  “Congress shall make no law…” the document begins.

So I agree with former President Carter.  It makes me remember something my father said during the Iran-Contra hearings. He said to me out of the blue while we were going on a service-call together: "Dave, something has happened to the country."  I can't remember all he said, but I remember thinking this is serious if my father and I understood the government in the same way. He was a Republican. 

I remember replying something like the following:  "I don't think it’s possible for any government to exist if the citizens actually have the rights guaranteed by the constitution."

I meant it then and feel vindicated now. Have we as citizens in a democratic society found ourselves in the position of a dog owner with a rabid dog on a leash?  What’s the citizen to do if that’s the case?   Many are scratching their heads over what they see the U.S doing.  

At that period of my life I had been thinking what a stinking state of affairs it was to be considered an outcast in society for smoking marijuana.  I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind about how prohibition was simply ‘wrong’ in every way the word ‘wrong ‘could be used.

I wasn’t a scoff law in other ways. Prohibition irked me then and it irks me to this day. But at the root of my sentiment was the knowledge that prohibition was contrary to my desires regarding the use of my ability to choose what to do with myself.

Anti-marijuana legislation had dis-empowered me. It had removed from me the God given right to make choices. The constitution does not expressly forbid growing or using marijuana.  On the contrary, it is an inalienable right based on creation.  

 

 

 

Well anyhow, dad hardly ever spoke to me about political things and didn’t like me smoking dope.  I was very surprised when out of nowhere he just said that.

He said this after watching Oliver North treated as a hero instead of being locked-up in prison in disgrace.   (Click for PBS special coverage of the Iran - Contra Scandal.) These revelations about the NSA can mean nothing without first meaning the people who run the government and spend the tax money are anti-democratic in the way they think and act and any statement to the contrary is best understood as deceitful.  It also means when the mainstream press is silent it is behaving in the capacity of a co-conspirator.

It has become obvious those in charge do not embrace democratic principles as a way of conducting state business except in the time honored way of getting the best politician money can buy to make the laws.  Click for some humorous insightful thoughts by social observer and critic Will Rogers.

What else can it mean?  When Communists were accused of ignoring its citizens rights to privacy in the 1950’s Americans were told how lucky they, as Americans, were. The unfortunate Russians lived in a police state and there was no privacy. What this meant in real life was related to me by an older member of the church I attended. 

Bill arrived in America as a refugee from the Ukraine after WW2. He told the following story. Speaking with a thick accent which was hard for my American ears to understand, Bill related how the police came into his home and took his brother-in law who was there with himself and his sister.  The brother-in law was never seen by family members again or anyone they knew.  No one who cared about him ever heard from him again.  

Bill was an old man when I met him in the early 1960’s. He and his sister had gotten out of the Ukraine, ending up in my hometown.  Bill worked the rest of his life in one of the mills in town until retirement. In that time he lived with his sister until she died.  He was never arrested and didn’t drink. After his sister died and well up in years he married another church member and they lived together happily ever after until they both died.

He frequently told the story of the disappearance of his brother in-law and always finished saying “They thought more of a pig than a man.”  His brother-in law had gotten caught stealing a pig to keep the family from starving.  Bill never got over that.

Despite that life rattling experience, I don’t think Bill would have a problem with the news of the U.S spying on its citizens. He didn’t understand protestors against the Viet Nam war. He knew the protestors had no idea what a bad government was and that he did.

What do you think?   The previous link is to a June 7, 2013 Democracy Now interview with Glenn Greenwald on the topic of recent NSA spying revelations.  What do you think?

Perhaps the meaning of democracy has been changed and we just have to 'understand and get used to it', as Mayor Bloomberg suggests blithely. 

With that the case you should know what to expect if next you hear him or someone else suggest the constitution be moved to a museum for safe keeping because it’s printed on paper made with cannabis.  

Some crusader could make a case for relegating the constitution to the status of an icon kept in The Museum of American Political Life on the basis that: “It is printed on High Quality Hemp and could be dangerous to those not ready for it.” 

We’ve heard stories about rape as a means of birth control told with a straight face along with accounts of fetuses masturbating  from the same class of buffoons.  It’s just a short step from such previously documented idiocy to saying the constitution is dangerous because it’s printed on hemp paper. If our society can produce the previous sort of skewed thinking, imagining these bozos banishing the constitution to the category of a relic is not farfetched.

 

Either Or 

 

Freedom ain’t what it used to be.  

Today, in U.S. speak, the qualities of security and privacy have an either or relationship.

The previous links are to a Tee shirt design and a poster I made and put up for sale at Zazzle.com.  Both designs are in the theme of security in relationship to privacy and the constitution.

You may like to view more of the art products I have for sale.  You may do so by clicking Art From Another Dimension

Have a good day and God bless

a Clear Running Water state of mind

© 2013 David H. Roche