Filed under: Echo's Thoughts | Tags: agnostic, alan watts, Alan Watts Audio, alan watts lectures, atheism, atheist, atheists, belief, beliefs, believer, bible, bible thumper, catholic, chrisitans, christ, christianity, church, Echo's Thoughts, Faith, faithless, god, government, i am atheist, jesus, lds, lord christ, mormon, muslim, muslum, no bible, no god, no jesus, non-beliver, peace in the world, philosopher, Philosophy, religions, religious, theist, World Peace
I ask myself this question everyday… what will it take to bring about absolute peace in the world? I don’t have a fix-all solution for the world but I have come upon a realization so profound that it has dramatically changed my view of life and purpose in this world.
As a matter of fact there isn’t anything more important in my life than to investigate the human condition so that I along with everyone else might know absolute peace.
What is absolute peace?
I haven’t the slightest idea what absolute peace is… actually I do have ideas about it but that is all they are, ideas! This world that we live in has never known peace, so any notion or idea that I come up with for peace is just a concept for we have never know true world peace. For centuries we have fought amongst one another shedding blood in the name of ones religion, country, faith, etc.
It is clear that we all have ideas of what peace should look like. If you’re a Christian you will say follow the word of the Bible and you will know peace. If you are Jewish you will say follow the word of the Old Testament and you will know peace. If you are Muslim you will say follow the words of Allah and the Quran and you will surely know peace.
There are thousands and thousands of other books and religions that have ideas about what we must all do to bring about peace in this world and all of them are willing to die to prove it.
Top 5 Religions in The World
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Christian 2 Billion
Islam 1.2 Billion
Hinduism 785 Million
Buddhism 360 Million
Judaism 17 Million
What can I do to bring about absolute peace in the world?
If you ask yourself the same question and truly understand the question completely you will see the answer is in understanding the question itself.
When I ask myself this question immediately a problem arises and for me to solve any problem I first look at what has been done that has not worked to fix the problem. Once you see what has not worked in the past you can then eliminate it and move forward, make progress.
Without casting judgment or a skewed opinion I can clearly see that looking at our history completely as a human race, all organized religions and systems of government have failed to bring about peace. I’m not stating an opinion but looking at the actual facts of our past.
I’m also not singling out any one religion and as a matter of fact I’m including all the so called non-religions too, Atheist, etc.
To see things as they actually are is not easy for most people because for most of us including myself… we’ve been conditioned to believe one thing or another from our parents, schools, etc. As a matter of fact most people will never truly be able to examine this question completely because their conditioning is so deep they can’t even understand the question and as I said above, the answer to this question is in understanding the question itself. What can I do to bring about absolute peace in the world?
If you and I can quiet our minds if only for a moment to step outside of what we know and see things truly how they are that is in itself a miracle.
Another interesting question to put to oneself is: Why do I have to know everything?
It seems as though we are brought up with this idea that we have to know what happens to us when we die, we have to know the meaning of life, we have to know EVERYTHING. This is a fundamental flaw in the way we are all brought up.
We don’t have to know everything, there is an infinite freedom in realizing this. You know that saying “some things are better left unknown”… well it’s true. Instead of interpreting different books, scrolls and ancient text from the past how about living right now? Instead of spending countless years of ones life KNOWING what you know how about waking up each day ready to find out?
For a person to wake each day KNOWING the word of god or the purpose of all humanity is really saying something about that person. For a person to wake up each day and know for a fact without a doubt that life started in this one particular way and this is what you must do in order to secure eternal salvation is in itself doing a disservice to your beliefs.
What audacity a person would have to have to believe they have “truth”, and what a shame it is to never wake up from that state of mind.
A state of mind that reads from the same book and says the same prayers over and over again surely isn’t the mind that will bring about peace in this world rather this is a mind that has been frozen and is no longer dynamic and progressive.
The mind that is to bring about peace in this world has no ties to books, churches, nations, temples or congregations. The mind that will bring about peace in this world will come from the human being that realizes this completely and this human being will go to sleep each night knowing that when he or she wakes the next day everything he or she knew the day before has nothing to do with that new day.
So again I ask myself. What can I do to bring about absolute peace in the world?
I can realize that in this world, in this existence in order to change the world I must change myself. In order to bring about absolute peace in the world I cannot live my life by the interpretations of other men, I must find out for myself what it is to know peace and in the process I must not only read and explore this intellectually but I must live this in my daily life.
Living and manifesting peace in the world has nothing to do with going to church or reading a book, it has everything to do with loving everyone UNCONDITIONALLY and speaking the truth always.
Loving everyone unconditionally is not the same as what all the religions of the world teach today. What the religions of the world teach you today is to TOLERATE one another not love one another. A Christian might say he loves a Jew but this is far from the “truth”. The fact that you subscribe to one religion or another implies that the other religion is wrong and damned… this is not love but fear.
Fear has no place in the enlightenment of humanity or day to day life. Fear breads hate, war, aggression, murder and insecurity in the world. Christians fear Muslims and Jews fear Atheist and Catholics fear Hindus and the list goes on and on.
See this all for what it is… it’s what you’ve been told, that’s all… nothing more. What you’ve been told is what they’ve been told and what they’ve been told is what someone told them and it goes on and on. It’s time to break this cycle… break free from the KNOWN.
Being a good Christian or Catholic is nothing more than an idea and ideas have nothing to do with peace.
Join the revolution and step into the UNKNOWN. Forget everything you know each day when you wake up and find out what life is all about each day as a new.
What would Jesus do? I’ll tell you what he did… BUT DON’T BELIEVE ME!!!
Go find out for yourself read the Bible but don’t take it as the word of god. When you’re finished reading the Bible pick up the Quran or the Buddhist 7 Noble Truths and continue seeking the truth but for the sake of all humanity don’t ever say you KNOW the truth.
The truth, the answers to all the universe and the purpose of all humanity cannot be quantified in any book, sermon or gospel for the truth for lack of a better word is ineffable.
If you want to live in a world of peace then drop the church, don’t call yourself a Buddhist or Atheist instead of talking the talk… walk the walk. In walking the walk you understand that to connect to the absolute truth that connection is through love. If you understand this then all your actions will be from a place of love and in acting from love you are expressing the truth.
So in summary: To bring about peace in the world I have to change myself, if I can change myself I have done all I can to change the world. Living life day to day, each day a new with all my actions and words coming from a place of love not ideologies, religions or beliefs but from unconditional love… in that ACTION you are realizing peace and from that realization others will come into realization as well.
Don’t take my word for it, go find out for yourself. Examine what it is that you KNOW and examine how it is that you’ve come to know what you know, then forget it. Once you’ve done that then ask yourself what can I do to bring about absolute peace in the world?
Understand that question completely and you will have the answer.
Peace,
Filed under: Uncategorized
I found this statement on the Zeitgeist Addendum movie and thought it was worth posting. Read it over and over again, and if you haven’t already seen the Zeitgeist Addendum, go watch it now.
Taken cumulatively, the integration of the world as a whole, particularly in terms of economic globalization and the mythic qualities of “free market” capitalism, represents a veritable “empire” in its own right. . . No nation on earth has been able to resist the compelling magnetism of globalization. Few have been able to escape the “structural adjustments” and “conditionalities” of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, or the arbitration’s of the World Trade Organization, those international financial institutions that, however inadequate, still determine what economic globalization means, what the rules are, and who is rewarded for submission and punished for infractions. Such is the power of globalization that within our lifetime we are likely to see the integration, even if unevenly, of all national economies in the world into a single global, free market system.
~ Jim Garrison
Filed under: Echo's Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tags: afterlife, celebrity deaths, death, dying, heaven, heaven or hell, hell, michael jackson, michael jackson death, michael jackson dies, michael jackson heaven, michael jackson r.i.p., paradise, religion, spiritual
Well as many of you have probably already heard Michael Jackson died today. I’m a little ashamed to admit the first thing that popped in my head when I heard he had dies was… is Michael Jackson going to heaven or hell? This is such a random and silly question to pose to ones self especially when I don’t particularly believe in heaven or hell. The funny thing is my belief in heaven or hell has nothing to do with the thoughts arising in my mind.
And that’s how the mind works, one minute your working on a powerpoint presentation on photosynthesis and the next you’re pondering the purpose of all mankind. I’ve learned to just observe and go with the flow.
So in the spirit of going with the flow I think the question I posed myself deserves examination. Does Michael Jackson get to go to heaven?
When I ask myself this question immediately another question comes to mind and that is, does it really matter? To answer the second question I’ll firmly say no it doesn’t matter but for the purposes of intellectual stimulation and semantic banter why not say yes it does matter.
I’m going to cast my vote now and say Michael Jackson does get to go to heaven! Let us assume the worst that all the rumors about him are true with regard to his indiscretions with underage boys, Jesus juice and the whole 9 yards… I say he still goes to heaven.
The reason I say this and let me clarify again (I don’t believe in a actual heaven) but Michael Jackson from what I have gathered lived his life in hell.
I would dare say that with Michael Jackson’s death today in his last breath it would have been a sigh of relief. Just think about it, that poor man (boy) never got the chance at a normal childhood. Think about it every time you’ve seen him on television in an interview he seemed like a child trapped in a mans body. Painfully shy and reclusive for me it was almost painful to watch him interviewed or questioned in front of a live audience, and do you remember the staged kiss between him and Lisa Marie Presley?
The only time we got to see the real Michael Jackson was when he was on stage doing his thing, singing and dancing… that’s when he let his guard down and that’s when you could see who Michael really was.
For lack of a better phrase… “God bless Michael Jackson” and amen he’s finally free!
I’m sure the next 2 weeks will be nothing but sensationalized news coverage and all kind of celebrities coming out of the wood works to say how much they loved Michael Jackson. But after these next few weeks, week by week, year by year and on to the next generation perhaps all the rumors and silver tongued news reporters will fade into the past and all that will be left is his music and legacy as a great entertainer.
None of us got to know who Michael Jackson truly was because that poor man didn’t even know who he was. So I’ll shy away from the canned response Michael Jackson R.I.P. that I’m sure everyone and their mom’s will be posting and twittering over the next couple of days.
Michael Jackson… don’t rest in peace, Michael Jackson spread your wings and fly, dance on clouds and show the angels how to moon walk. Today is not a day for mourning but a day for celebration, Michael Jackson is finally free and gone from this hellish life of under a microscope.
Peace and love to the king of pop!
Filed under: Echo's Thoughts | Tags: dream consciousness, dream reading, dreamers, Dreams, dreamstate, lucid dreaming, mindfulness, r.e.m. sleep
I’ve been fascinated with lucid dreaming ever since I had one many years ago, getting back to that state of consciousness and mastering the ability requires great patience. It seems as though the more I try, the farther I push myself away from dream consciousness. Whenever I am lucky enough to find myself aware of the dream it’s only but an instant before I awake. What is even more frustrating is I can never remember what it was that brought about the awareness in the first place.
In addition to the practice of lucid dreaming for the past several months I’ve been trying to catch myself falling asleep. A better phrase might be, I’ve been observing my sleep process. Its been several months now and unfortunately I seem to be at the same place I was months ago. I will say this however, I’m not discouraged. I’m guessing once I am able to flick the switch “0101 0101 111 01”, it will only take the once and then instantly I will have mastered the technique. (I’m guessing.)
In any case I’m always on the hunt for new methods and tips so I thought I’d share an interesting website I came across tonight. The website offers 6 basic steps to lucid dreaming, let me know if anyone has success.
Peace,
Filed under: Echo's Thoughts, Philosophy | Tags: atheist, belief, beliefs, bible belt, buddhist, christian, gnostic, god, godess, holidays, lifes purpose, memorial day, muslim, philosipher, Philosophy, purpose, religion, spirit, spiritual, united states, World Peace
Hello to you all, I’ve been gone for over a month now and haven’t been writing but I can assure you… I’m back, with purpose!
Today I’d like to talk about what most of the country has forgotten, ironically on this very day “Memorial Day”. The topic of today’s discussion is none other than purpose.
What is your purpose?
Today, Memorial Day we’re supposed to be remembering those who have fallen in the many wars and battles securing our liberties and freedom. Please excuse me if you are offended by me saying so but it seems to me that Memorial Day is everything but remembrance.
Living here in southern California I can assure you that Memorial Day is nothing more then a sign that Summer is here and reason to go to the beach. I would like to note that before heading to the beach you would be hard pressed not to stop at Macy’s to pick up some new attire as they are always having their annual Memorial Day sale!
Let us assume for a moment that in a perfect world, Memorial Day wasn’t a big beach party and people actually did stop to remember our fallen soldiers. In this perfect world where we all stop pay our respects, watch the parades and television specials… at the end of the day what good would have come of it?
Basically I’m trying to figure out (1) what is the point of remembering that people have died in wars most of us know nothing about and (2) if we actually did pay our respects in remembrance and not party… would our simple “remembering” contribute any progress or advancement to mankind? After all these soldiers were fighting for our progress and advancement correct?
So back to the perfect world envisioned where we all actually do pay our respects. Simply paying our respects in my opinion isn’t good enough.
I would think that anyone who has actually died in a previous war wouldn’t want anyone to romanticize over that fact but rather take advantage of the opportunities secured for them. Some might argue that having a party, going to the beach and cracking open a Bud Light is taking advantage of the opportunities secured for them but I’m assuming anyone reading this post is educated, articulate and at the least a “C” average student… so let’s not go there.
On Memorial Day we remember those who have fought so bravely or those who were all but forced to fight, but what exactly were they fighting for? This is a loaded question I know but it is a question worth examining because after all it is Memorial Day.
On this Memorial Day do we remember those Native Americans who fought against those who came to this land uninvited? On this Memorial Day do we remember the southern confederate soldier who fought to keep slavery alive?
As you can see we are in deep waters here or a slippery slope whatever you prefer, my point being that this day deserves more than high fives, sun tan lotion, barbecues and drunk driving. Memorial Day should actually be the one day out of the year were we all collectively try to remember how this came to be, the United States and what is our purpose.
When I stop to ask myself this question, what is my purpose it is abundantly clear to me that it has nothing to do with a 9-5 job, a new car, designer clothes or putting a ring on anyone’s finger in a facade most of us continue to perpetuate. My life’s purpose or your lifes purpose for that matter has nothing to do with anyone else but rather everything to do with you.
Do you want to share your life with someone else? How about figuring out what your life is about first?
We all want to be a part of something bigger but don’t know the first thing about ourselves. I’m married to this person, or I’m from this state, or I’m an American… how can you be ANYTHING when you don’t know who you are?
Again I ask, what is your purpose?
If you think it is your purpose to have children, start a family or hold a high ranking job with a six figure income then it is time to do some serious soul searching. All of those things are secondary and cannot be truly enjoyed or realized unless you know what your purpose is.
I cannot tell you what your purpose is but only remind you that you have one. In a world full of distractions it is all to easy to forget or for that matter to have never even put the question to ones self.
So on this Memorial Day, let us forget what we previously celebrated and let us remember who we truly are. On this Memorial Day let us find our purpose in life and from there manifest a life and world worth remembering.
What is your purpose?
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